These tasty and colorful eggs are nothing to cluck about.

Just ask 12-year-old Caylin Kearl, who diligently cares for dozens of chickens that produce oval delicacies on her family’s tidy 10-acre hobby farm near Athol.

For Caylin, it’s a labor of love—with a little financial incentive. The former 4-H member pitches in to feed, water and even play with the barnyard fowl. Every day, she collects a bounty of eggs to sell at her grandmother’s workplace in Coeur d’Alene.

At last count, there were 59 chickens frolicking on the Kearl farm and Caylin knows each one “personally.”

“I have names for all of them, but some I don’t remember as well because they’re kind of shy and I don’t see them as much,” Caylin says. But the coddled cluckers share something common: They all lay delicious eggs.

Chalk that up to a little TLC and a good diet.

“When the egg yolks get oranger, they’re healthier and tastier,” she says. “Right now, they’re really orange because the chickens are eating lots of bugs.” Their carefully considered meal plan also consists of black sunflower seeds and grain.

At $3 a dozen, customers at her grandmother’s workplace, North Idaho Physical Therapy, gobble up about 10 dozen eggs a week, says Calyin’s mom, Crystal.

“We don’t make a whole lot of money, but I’m super, super happy my mom (Jan Maxwell) is able to sell them otherwise I don’t know what we would do with all those eggs.”

The egg-buyers are certainly a happy bunch.

“They keep coming back,” Crystal says. “We have one guy who buys two dozen a week. He says store eggs give him heartburn and our farm fresh eggs don’t.”

While the family’s egg-selling business generates a modest income, most of the money goes right back into caring for the chickens.

“We don’t do it for the money, we do it for the chickens … we love to spoil them,” Crystal says.

Their favorite food? “They love meal worms,” said Crystal. “It’s expensive--$30 a bag, but they absolutely love them. You shake the bag and all of a sudden you’ve got 50-plus chickens running down the back yard; it’s quite comical.”

Aside from pampering their feathered pets, a portion of the funds are used at Caylin’s discretion for extracurricular activities like a day at nearby Silverwood Theme Park.

On the farm, don’t expect to see stereotypical white eggs. The Kearl chickens lay an assortment of colors, including different shades of brown, green and even blue eggs. And the chickens themselves are as diverse as their eggs, Caylin says.

“They all have different personalities,” says the pre-teen, who will attend Athol Junior High School this year. “The sweetest one is Beauty. I love her so much. She’ll fly into my arms and then crawl on my back and onto my head.”

Caylin is considering rejoining Round Mountain Riders 4-H Club in Rathdrum to show Beauty because she’s so well behaved. But not all the chickens are so mild-mannered.

Consider Polly. “She’s kind of old and cranky and pecks the other chickens,” Caylin says.

Still, all the feathered fowl are part of the family. Caylin’s aunt made tutus for the chickens, which didn’t go over well. And Caylin tried walking the chickens with a leash, but that endeavor was also was met with widespread resistance from the birds.

The Kearls say their chickens are much more than egg-producing farm animals.

“They’re our pets,” Crystal says. “We just really have fun with them. I know that sounds crazy, but we thoroughly enjoy having chickens in our backyard. I don’t know how many people can say that.”

With a laugh, she adds: “We might be an odd bunch in that way, but that’s OK!”