I'm going to need a bigger egg basket

I was at work today and my husband was gone so I asked my lovely neighbor to ride his tractor across the road and let the girls out. He kindly obliged so that when I got home I was greeted by a yard full of happy chickens. I went across to thank Frank for releasing the birds and he said how fun it is to watch them when you open the door. It's like their first taste of freedom every time they get out: they come joyfully bounding out the door, making lots of noise and flapping their wings. You can't help but smile. 

I went out to gather the eggs after tending to the dogs. I opened the first side of nesting boxes and I thought to myself - I'm going to need a bigger basket!  I went to the lean-to and got my garden harvesting basket, which is much bigger.  I began picking up the eggs and counting...1, 2, 3, 4...10...15...19!  There were so many!  

Then I went to the other side to check those nests. For some reason the girls don't use those very much. They all seem to prefer the ones on the side by the workshop. But here I found more eggs still!  1, 2, and 3!  They looked so pretty in the basket together, all those shades of green and brown. 

Twenty-two eggs in total means all but one of the adult chickens laid an egg today.  

I rinsed them off and laid them on the counter to dry.  This pair stood out to me in the array: big and little, a lovely couple!