“Eggplant: where chickens work”

Eggplant is sometimes joked as an “egg plant”—that is, a factory (or plant) where eggs are made. The joke has been told at least as early as the Walt Disney animated short Alice’s Egg Plant (1925). “‘Eggplant’ - A place where chickens work” was on a website’s joke list in 1997.
 
“Where does the Easter bunny get his eggs?”/“From eggplants” is a related eggplant riddle.
 
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Alice’s egg plant
Author: Walt Disney
Publisher: [California] : Walt Disney Studios, 1925.
Edition/Format:   Film : Animation : Film Visual material : No Linguistic Content
Summary:
One of the silent Alice in wonderland shorts, in which a live action Alice is combined with cartoon characters and background.
 
The Internet Movie Datatbase
Plot Summary for
Alice’s Egg Plant (1925)
Little Alice and Julius the cat operate an egg factory. The hens are a bit lazy, but Julius cracks the whip. An out-of-town chicken arrives, only she’s a labour agitator, Little Red Henski from Moscow, Russia, who comes courtesy of the I.W.W. Soon she has the hens striking for “shorter hours” and “smaller eggs”. Alice and Julius need to fill an urgent egg order. They spot two roosters fighting. They organize a pugilistic event, and charge each hen one egg admission. Alice and Julius fill their order and drive away ... but the load slips off, breaking all the eggs. Written by David Steele.
     
InfoLanka.com
Joke Time!!!
Posted by Jan Bulagik on April 07, 1997 at 11:22:51
(...)
“Eggplant” - A place where chickens work.
 
Yahoo! Answers
Poll: Is an eggplant a place where chickens work?
5 years ago (April 6, 2008)
   
Studio H
BEN NICHOLSON “SYSTEMS” WORKSHOP: DESIGN A CHICKEN CITY!
admin September 23rd, 2010
(...)
Team 2 had a Modernist take on a chicken utopia, creating a four-pronged city with the central “hub” as the “Egg Plant,” where chickens go to work, to produce eggs, and where the city’s commercial center was located.
 
Topica
Jest For Kids 06-10-11
Stan Kegel
Jun 10, 2011 00:00 PDT
(...)
Eggplant: Where hens lay.
 
Twitter
Joe Heuer
‏@Daffynitions
Eggplant: where chickens work.
12:45 AM - 6 Oct 12