First Egg!! (And a couple questions!) :)

[Aurora1]

I am SO excited! We got our first egg today! One of my 15wk old black sex-links laid it right in the middle of our gravel driveway! It is very tiny and has a super soft shell. I've read that a soft shell is normal at first. Is this right?

So far, I haven't offered oyster shell - a friend told me they didn't need it because they free range all day. I'm guessing that I should pick some up... anything else I should be doing?

Also, I would prefer they lay in the nest boxes and not on the driveway! I have a couple golf balls in each box as I heard that because they resemble eggs they will be more likely to lay in them. What else should I do to encourage using the nest boxes? Should I confine them to their coop/run until dinner instead of letting them free range all day? (Although we got this one at 6pm so I'm not sure that would help!)

Any ideas would be great! This is my first flock and I'm learning as I go! It's been so much fun watching them grow from fluffy day olds - and a long wait for the first egg!

Thanks!

 

[shelby h]

I was told that the soft eggs are more likely to be in random spots , since they're harder to control where they lay them. Dunno if that's true or not. Make the boxes as inviting as possible, lots of bedding or straw. After a few random soft shells in weird places, my girls lay in the nest. If they don't get the hint, might have to lock them up in the coop fora few days

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sounds like the egg was made improperly and kinda just got pooped out, she probably didn't feel the normal things, sometimes I find eggs under my roosts. I would think she was just as surprised, that is very young. You can make oyster shells available, I don't think they actually start to crave and eat it right away.

Hens will lay throughout the day, so locking them up will only work if you do it all day.

They should start messing around in the nestboxes, so hopefully she gets the idea, or the others will do it and she will join them.

 

[Aurora1]

Um... is it edible?? It seems sad to throw the first egg away! Lol

 

[shelby h]

Um... is it edible?? It seems sad to throw the first egg away! Lol

If it's soft, i think it's best to ooh and ahhh over it, take a picture, run around the neighborhood showing all the neighbors ( not that I did this), and then toss it. I don't think the soft ones are... Fit for consumption? I might be wrong, but I'm not gonna be the guinea pig!

 

[Aurora1]

If it's soft, i think it's best to ooh and ahhh over it, take a picture, run around the neighborhood showing all the neighbors

LOL, I didn't run around to the neighbours, but I have to admit we did send a picture to some friends who knew we were waiting for eggs! Maybe that's kinda the same thing??
I don't think we'll eat it... but I hope for some hard shelled eggs soon! Thanks for your advice.

 

[Aurora1]

We got two eggs in the nest box! Nice hard shell this time! One last evening and one this morning! Pretty exciting to find them waiting for me when I checked in!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Twenty five years later and still excited to gather eggs, don't know why, I like picking them up, touching them and putting them in my pockets, it still is exciting, chicken keeping is a weird hobby.

 

[Spartan22]

More than 3000 eggs later, I'm still in a hurry to get home from work to gather eggs that were not laid in the morning.