A note from Louisiana. The glass eggs were sold at hardware/seed stores, my
elders put them in nest boxes to discourage chicken snakes. The snakes ingested them and
then they died, or so folks thought. The door knobs served the same function. Folklore has it
People saw snakes with a hole worn where they dragged the door knobs or glass eggs. 
      No idea about when the practice started or who made the eggs. They were commercial
not folk productions. 
       Maybe somebody with free range chickens will still know.    Pete Gregory







Sent from my iPad

> On Aug 7, 2015, at 11:15 PM, "Smoke" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> I have seen lots of darn eggs but all of them have been wooden.  The come
> in shape ranging from egg to ovoid with out the egg shape and may or may
> not have handles.  Often the ones with handles were called "mushroom".  The
> were common in late 1800s and early 1900s. My grandmother (born in the
> early 1880s) knitted a lot and had a lot of trouble with her grandchildren
> taking her 2 knitting and playing with as toys but she was very patient
> with us.  I half remember that she said they were often given to girls as
> one of the items for their "Hope Chests", if anyone still remembers the
> term.  This is the first I have heard of them be used to induce egg laying
> in chickens. I am also not familiar with those made of glass.
> 
> On Fri, Aug 7, 2015 at 1:08 PM, Keith Doms <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hello,
>>                We recently discovered a blown milk glass egg.   It
>> appears to be a dummy egg that was used it encourage chickens to lay.  My
>> informants tell me that door knobs and darning eggs were also used.  It
>> comes from a midden that dates between 1880 and 1910.  The little research
>> I have been able to do has not answered the following questions.  1. When
>> did they start making blown eggs?  2. How far did the practice of
>> artificial eggs to induce laying go back? 3.  Does anyone know of an
>> advertisement for these things.
>> 
>> Keith R. Doms
>> Newlin Grist Mill
>> Site Manager
>> 219 S. Cheyney Rd.
>> Glen Mills, PA  19342
>> (610) 459-2359
>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Smoke Pfeiffer
> Eschew Obfuscation!