I learned something valuable this holiday when carving eggs, and thought I'd share. When carving, I draw my design with a white grease pencil, then carve. The problem has always been getting the remaining grease pencil off. Then I heard a "Handy Hint" about getting crayon off of your walls using WD-40, so I thought I'd try that on the egg. First I tried another similar lubricant that we already had, but that didn't work. But when I used the WD-40, it worked like a charm! I sprayed a small amount onto the rag, then wiped the egg with it. Not only did it take the grease pencil off very easily, but it also made the egg shiny and beautiful! The only drawback -- the egg was also pretty slippery, so handle with care!

By the way... my female is laying only one egg every 10 or so days this season. Is that common? She's had some uncommon stressors in her life (and the male as well, who really isn't interested in sitting on the eggs this season, just covering them up and leaving them alone). Any comments or suggestions here? This is the first season they've been this weird.

Maybe we will hear from some other people on the laying question - I haven't taken a poll or anything, but I have heard from several farmers this season that the hens are laying erratically this year. Hens that have usually laid every three days like clockwork have been laying 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 days apart. My own are doing the same thing and I am hoping that they will settle down soon.