First Egg Countown

I'm waiting for our first eggs -
I got 4 'big girls' who are 21 weeks right now - a Speckled Sussex, a Rhode Island Red, a Welsummer and an Austrolorp. The RIR and Welsummer have bright red combs, but no laying behavior yet.

I also got 6 'little girls' who are 17 weeks (Barred Rock, Easter Egger, Blue Lace Wyandotte, Gold Laced Wyandotte, Silver Spangled Hamburg and a Red Star named Star.)
Star surprised me by being the first to start squatting - she's not very red yet, but she's acting ready.

I'm curious to see how this develops.

The fake eggs are in the nest - but otherwise, I'm acting real cool.

Your post gave me a Big Grin..."acting real cool".

It's SO hard to wait for those very first eggs!

Not surprised that your RS may be the first, they start young.

If you 'lose' your 'cool' here's another trick to try,
which I've found to be the most accurate, but still not a guarantee:

2 bony points(pelvic bones) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.

WEIRDNESS
So strange the morning after I start this thread I get my first egg laying 'incident.' This morning I found an egg in the coop - under the little girls' roost - still whole, and cold, but with a soft shell. Also in the litter under the same roost was the contents of an egg, just loose - the yolk slightly solidified, like a soft-cooked egg. No evidence of a shell or membrane about.

Both from the same girl? Star, I imagine - given her squatting behavior.

So, experts, I assume the soft shell is because she is so young, right? Any theories about the shell-less egg?

Thank you, aart for your reply. I will give the girls the bony finger test. My older girls should definitely be feeling the pressure now!

I often want to say that posting on BYC is how you get your layers to lay...as it happens a lot.

Could be from same girl, highly likely.
Shelless, softshell and thinshells are all common for new layers.
Takes them up to a month or so gets things smoothed out.

Well then, let me jump in and post cause I'm waiting for my 1st egg too!! The suspense is about to kill me!

Pegmlee said:

Well then, let me jump in and post cause I'm waiting for my 1st egg too!! The suspense is about to kill me!

Click to expand...

How many birds do you have? How old are they?

I have 3 hens, 2 Ameraucana and 1 Black Sex Link (I think) and they are approx. 23 wks old. This picture is a couple of weeks old.

I have 3 hens, 2 Ameraucana and 1 Black Sex Link (I think) and they are approx. 23 wks old.

Sorry it posted twice..can't figure out how to delete the second one.

UPDATE
Our egg laying adventures continue. Star, one of my "Little Girls" was the first to start laying at just under 18 weeks. She's a Red Star and totally earns her name - lovely russet eggs every day, always in the nest box. Then she strayed a bit, did't lay in the box, we found one of her eggs in the middle of the yard one day, but she seems to have returned to her previous good habits. She's such a good girl.

Next up was Rhoda, our big lovely RIR, she started laying small light brown eggs, but not in the coop - these girls free range so we had to do some hunting. She had made the sweetest little nest in some bushes and was faithfully leaving them there for us. Then she seemed to stop laying for several days, or hiding them in a new spot. Just the other day we found a very big egg in her color - inside 3 yolks! I think she was holding them in for a few days??

Next I found what I think is the Welsummer's egg. a lovely deep red brown, with speckles and a shiny surface, vs. Star's matte chalky egg. So Wellington's our 2nd "Big Girl" to lay - though she does not like to squat for me. She's not friendly that way.

Chickadee, or Speckled Sussex and top girl, has I believed started to lay - we found a funny little pale egg after several nights of soft membranes dropped from her roost.

Finally, just this morning, Astra our lovely Black Austrolorp and fourth "Big Girl" gave me a significant wide squat. I was delighted somehow. I love this bird and was so happy to be able to pick her up and give her a big hug.

It's amazing how my affections increase for the birds who start laying. My two early layers immediately became my favorite birds, I find them so beautiful, I love to just sit down in the grass with them and talk -- Is this normal? ...you know what I mean?