Or a chicken's day off.

Finally, after laying her very first egg 21 days ago and laying continuous for 20 days in a row, my little banty hen, BB, finally took today off. She's earned it as 20 eggs a month is common among free range chickens-- 20 eggs in 20 days is stellar.

Yes, commercial chicken farmers sometimes get production figures of almost an egg a day but their birds are artificially stimulated to lay more eggs and are usually laid out in just 2 years whereas backyard chicken farmers can expect a hen to lay for 5-8 years.

Fact is: it's simply not healthy for hens to lay too often as the making of egg shells requires calcium which is sometimes depleted from the hen's already fragile bones. I give my birds poultry lime to supplement their calcium needs but I don't try to stimulate egg production via any other means than simply making sure they have lots of protein in their foods.

I hope BB takes tomorrow off as well.