Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[Wishing4Wings]

Here's my other RIR.... red comb and lots of time around the nest.....but no eggs yet

She looks good. Shouldn't be too long . You're not going to have room in your refrigerator once they get going!

 

[cheeka]

please oh please let the quality of those calendars be good... the pdf files I have do look fine... but until I have one in my hands... today, I will begin working on a Pollinator calendar. but first, work... ugh.

 

[mortie]

Sorry Grandma7, I am terrible judge of when chickens are going to lay. All I know is the more you want them to start up, the less inclined they are!

 

[mortie]

Final check on the bees is done. The queen has been accepted and she has laid some eggs. Not a lot of eggs, but some. A lot wouldn't be ideal anyway. They have about a 95% chance of not making it through the winter I would estimate, but I'll give them that 5%. Take care, little bees.

 

[grandma7]

It was about 6am, still dark outside. Heard the loudest cackle out of any of my girls from my bedroom window(30ft away) Let girls out and cleaned under roost, when I look over and see my very first egg. Don't know who laid, but proud of her

 

[mortie]

Congrats!

 

[grandma7]

anyway to tell if the egg came from RIR hen or a Barred Rock? Or are their eggs just to similar to tell?

 

[sophiap]

After more than a week only my Golden Laced-Charlie is laying her miniature eggs for me. Hope the rest start soon. Husband was naughty on Tuesday and used non food grade DE in the coop and run. I read somewhere that I should not use the eggs if the chicken have NFGDE. Is that true? I cant see how it will affect the eggs. Any thoughts? I plan to hose everything down and change the bedding over the weekend. Not sure there is much more I can do at this point. I just hope the girls are fine and they give me some wonderful eggs soon. I saved all the eggs from Charlie and made a cheese omelet for my dad last weekend when the kids and I were visiting. He said it was the best one he has ever had! I have 3 more from this week.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

anyway to tell if the egg came from RIR hen or a Barred Rock? Or are their eggs just to similar to tell?

Congrats on the egg!

Egg color tends to be similar within a breed, but of course, there will be individual variation. The one BR I had laid very light brown eggs, but have never had a RIR to compare. Love the speckles on your egg. In new layers, sometimes speckles means they're still working out their "plumbing." The same chicken could lay an egg tomorrow, where the color is spread evenly over the shell, and it will look darker overall. I like the spots, though!

 

[Wishing4Wings]

After more than a week only my Golden Laced-Charlie is laying her miniature eggs for me. Hope the rest start soon. Husband was naughty on Tuesday and used non food grade DE in the coop and run. I read somewhere that I should not use the eggs if the chicken have NFGDE. Is that true? I cant see how it will affect the eggs. Any thoughts? I plan to hose everything down and change the bedding over the weekend. Not sure there is much more I can do at this point. I just hope the girls are fine and they give me some wonderful eggs soon. I saved all the eggs from Charlie and made a cheese omelet for my dad last weekend when the kids and I were visiting. He said it was the best one he has ever had! I have 3 more from this week.

Non food grade DE (stuff used in pool filters) does not have standards for limiting heavy metal content and it contains high levels of crystalline silica that is considered hazardous, potentially causing damage and disease to lung tissues. Washing it down like you did is probably the best thing, and you can wash the eggs too, I guess. I doubt that it will cause you any problems.

My kids got so used to our eggs, that on a rare breakfast out, they could barely choke down the restaurant eggs. It's a good excuse to have Hollandaise sauce when we're out!