Teaching a Lesson with Eggs....

When my ladies are laying well we get 15+ eggs a day, more than we need.  It's so fun collecting the eggs and letting the twinadoes help, then counting them to see how many we have.  But with that many being laid they add up quick, and before you know it you have ten dozen eggs.  When I see an excess I simply post them for free on my local Facebook page, and within minutes they are all claimed.  There are also people that post their eggs, but for a price, usually $5 for a dozen.  Could I sell my eggs?  Of course I could, but I choose not to.

The ladies feed costs about $30 per month, so really not that much, six dozen eggs would pay for that.  However, I use these eggs as a lesson for the twinadoes.  They've asked me why I don't sell the eggs and I tell them that we have a lot of eggs, more than we can use so it's nice to share.  Share and not expect anything in return, plain and simple.

The first couple of times I posted my free eggs I received a message telling me to sell my eggs, that giving them away for free might impact those that are selling theirs.  My response to that was I don't have such a large amount that it would really affect any egg selling business and if it did they might want to rethink their business plan because it's not working. 

These eggs have been the segue into them sharing other things with people, like their toys they no longer play with.  Last night we were discussing just this and the twinadoes were having a hard time, they were thinking we meant all their toys.  Mr. Housewife was explaining to them about sharing the toys they NO LONGER PLAY WITH and how that was the right thing to do.  And what does he use as an example?  My eggs!!  I almost melted.....

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the people that sell their eggs to pay for the food out of necessity, and that is also a lesson we teach our children.  We are very fortunate, we have enough food to eat, a home to live, clothes on our back and a few extras that some people do not.  The twinadoes are learning that when you have more than enough to share, you should and to be thankful for what you do have.  Five is an interesting age.  They are seeing the differences in how people live. Why one of their friends lives in a small home and another in a big one.  Why one friend has every toy imaginable and five computers and the other has barely any. 

So the eggs have started them learning a very good lesson in sharing.  But that lesson has expanded to being thankful for what they have and understanding not everyone has the same as everyone else.  Yet another reason my ladies are the best, they don't just give us eggs, entertainment and bug control, they give us life lessons.  I have the best chickens ever!!!