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So, remember these little chickadees?
Well, now they look more like this:
(You can read about where that fourth chicken went here.)
About six weeks ago, we ran out of the baby food (the guy at the feed store seems to call it mash) and so we started mixing in some layer food (which he calls pellets). And about four weeks ago, when we were away visiting with some seagulls and sandpipers, Chicken Sitter Valerie texted me that their time had come: we had layers! Which means that they laid eggs for the uninitiated.
As you can see, their eggs are pretty small. This is one next to an extra large egg from the store. But, if I remember correctly from our last round of chickens, the eggs get larger as the chickens do.
At first they were quite productive, and we had 5 eggs one day. But they have since settled into a pattern of laying two eggs a day. I have only seen the Dominiques sitting in the little cubby we have in our coop for laying. This is probably significant because I have also noticed these darker chickens are not nice to their blonde sister and I’m a little worried she’s laying somewhere else. Which is all kinds of bad but I’m not sure exactly why. If I were a full time chicken farmer, I’d be totally on that. Barring any sort of a calamity, for now I am happy to pick up two eggs a day from my own backyard.
The Ill-Prepared Housewife 
I want to know where the missing eggs are! This is a perfect opportunity for an autumnal egg hunt! Get those kids out in the back yard a-huntin’! Make it right after the sun goes down and you put the chickens away for the night. They can use flashlights, then it’s a little ghost-in-the-graveyard from our youth, which makes it even more perfect for October! You could be the Martha Stewart of Bizarre Kid Games in your neighborhood!