Got a buddy who works pipeline, said an old timer told him you gotta heat bolt holes with a torch before threading. Cracked three bolts that way before someone showed him a tap and die set. Just shrugged and said "well that's how I was taught" like it wasn't his fault lol.

@betty144 totally nailed it. So many "deals" are just less food for more work.

12 fake eggs in a box is exactly why your hens acted that way. You basically trained them to be suspicious of the boxes by forcing them to figure out a puzzle you created. Birds are smart, they know when something is off. I've had hens that ignored perfectly good nesting boxes for weeks because they preferred the ground or a tucked away corner where they felt safer. Maybe your birds just wanted a dark, private spot that felt natural to them, not some fancy box with decoys you put in there. Next time try putting the boxes where the hens choose to lay first, not where you want them to lay.

Man, nothing like a trash bag epiphany to really get the blood pumping.

Had to cut a gasket for a 40 year old Cleaver Brooks myself once, used a ball peen hammer and a small chisel to rough it out of a sheet of gasket material. That 20 minute clock sounds about right when you've got a school full of kids coming back from a long weekend.