It’s egg season!

You have all the basics for chicken care: coop, run, nesting boxes, feed, straw, water. Coworkers give you their leftover egg cartons and hope you’ll refill them for a discount.

How do you take your Chicken Lady game to the next level?

These are some of the greatest tools, tips, and gifts you can get as a Children Lady.

You can find the gadgets at many large farm or cooking supply stores, and we provide Amazon links as an example. As always, we encourage you to SHOP LOCAL when you can!

1. Window with a View

First thing out of bed, check your chickens.

Right before sleep, check those chickens.

Set up a chair to create an inviting prayer and meditation corner while watching your flock.

Placing up your coop in view of a window allows you to quickly hear or see if something is endangering them.

Also it gets pretty darn cold here in Ohio, so it’s nice to be able to stay inside while counting your hens.

2. Coffee Mug

Many thanks to the friends who gifted this mug to make me smile even before I get coffee in the morning!

3. Egg Cooker

Ranks right up there with coffee maker and toaster as a kitchen essential.

This Cuisinart Egg Central cooks 1 to 10 eggs at a time from soft to hard boiled, so you can grab a quick breakfast alone or feed the hordes at dinner.

And imagine, I thought my husband was crazy when he first brought this home! Now it saves us time & energy almost every day.

4. Chicken Tending Shoes

It’s important for your accessories to match your layers!

Honestly, though, you need sturdy waterproof shoes that can slip on quickly. Chickens need their daily dose of attention!

5. Egg Basket

Save yourself the broken heart of broken eggs. An old-fashioned metal egg basket works wonders.

If you have kids, make them collect the eggs when they’re old enough. Daily chores are chicken soup for the soul.

6. Compost Bucket

Chicken ladies need two buckets:

1. one to hold the scraps to bring out your chickens, and
2. one for the egg shells and other debris they can’t (or won’t) eat. They like scraps but they aren’t pigs.

You can buy this Full Circle brand bucket with compostable bags through Grove Collaborative (and get a free 5-piece set at this link).

The following foods are bad for chickens (not a complete list):

• Citrus
• Raw meat or eggs (they can eat it, but often turn into cannibals)
• Avocado skins or pits
• Green tomatoes and potatoes
• Chocolate
• Anything moldy or rancid

7. The Good Egg Cookbook

Learn how to eat eggs from morning to night.

The Good Egg by Marie Simmons overflows with great cooking tips from simple hardboiled eggs to fancy frittatas.

For a more in depth look at the culinary history of eggs, check out Egg by Michael Ruhlman.

8. Egg Holder Tray

Now that you’re a culinary egg-pert, you’ll need something to safely transport your egg dishes to gatherings.

Be warned: they won’t all make it to the potluck!

Egg Holder Trays range from practical to fanciful. We have a couple basic plastic ones, plus a ceramic Easter version.

9. Clack Egg Opener

This is one of the best gadgets you never knew existed! I learned about it in the YouTube video above.

It cuts a nearly perfect circle with a satisfying “Clack” sound.

The full German name is eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher which means “a device which causes an egg shell to break at a predetermined point.” Precision in both engineering and language!

10. Flexible Taste Buds

If you’re going to eat farm fresh eggs almost every day, then you need to switch it up occasionally.

Experiment with a variety of local or ethnic spices, especially from your farmers’ market (where you can sell those farm fresh eggs).

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P.S. This post is not gender or age specific. Anyone is welcome to join the Chicken Lady tribe!