Painted wooden egg laying hen with spring mechanism made in England by Ron Fuller in the 1980s

The hen is composed of a hollow ovoid body with flat hinged wings; tail and tubular head all hand pointed in shades of grey to represent feathers.The beak and comb are spray painted yellow and red respectively. The hen stands on a pair of wooden legs,painted yellow, with three claws, front and one claw behind.The body contains 5 unpainted wooden balls. They are placed in the hole at the top of the body. When the body is gently pressed, a red wooden lever is released beneath and an egg is "laid". The hen's beak opens and the wings flap upwards.
There are handwritten instructions on the box in the form of an 8 line poem:

Though my feathers are painted
and my insides are wood
I look almost real
and behave very good
Just press my back gently
till I go down on my legs
do it five times
and I'll lay you five eggs

This egg laying hen is an example from the 1980s of a novelty toy based on a traditional concept. The hen contains five wooden ‘eggs’. When the hen is gently pushed from above, a spring mechanism releases an egg, while at the same time, the wings are raised. The toymaker, Ron Fuller, is one of the most important names in craft toymaking of the late 20th century. His toy designs are artistic and carefully made. He originally trained in stage design and fine art and started to make toys commercially in about 1960. His main influences have been the work of Sam Smith, John Gould and traditional German toymakers.

MISC.50 to B-1988