Who else is waiting for that first egg?

[MeepMeeps]

Oh wow, thanks for sharing! That is a very strange thing to see!
I also cooked my soft egg and gave it to my girls, with crushed calcium mixed in.

 

[jgochnour]

My leghorn had laid her first egg 4 days ago and have gotten one each the last two days so 3 in 4 days. Is this normal?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

My leghorn had laid her first egg 4 days ago and have gotten one each the last two days so 3 in 4 days. Is this normal?

It is not abnormal -- there really is no "normal" pattern to expect as each bird starts to lay, but this is what is working for your bird so just enjoy the eggs.

 

[chickmomma03]

When my leghorn first started laying she had a 5 day period where she didn't lay. She's a few weeks in now and the past 5 days she has laid 1 a day. Before that it was every other to every few days

 

[frick01]

I can really get behind the nesting box issue since my hens are in love with their small box. I must have bought, made, assembled etc. more than six boxes: the cheap wood one, the expensive plastic one, the boxes from gallon buckets, etc. The hens still love their small box. This has been the progression: four hens in a box. That lasted until laying. On their own they divided the inside of the box: the darkest half is for laying; the other half is for sleeping. So . . . Two hens are in the box; one is on top of the box, and one sticks its head in the box. What does that mean? Early in the morning I'm running to the box to make sure I get the poop out or OUCH I have dirty eggs. The hens try to be careful, but it's not easy. All four are laying wonderful eggs, but the one who sleeps on top laid a sad shellness egg up there. When they are laying during the day, they take turns. I've even seen one hen waiting for another to get out. I've moved eggs to another box. The lowest hen on the totem pole did get in the plastic box head first. However, she prefers to keep her head in the box where the others are. The whole thing is humorous and a bit infuriating. I've had so many answers from friends: (a) get rid of the box (b) let them alone (c) expand the box which, by the way, is on its last legs.

I have learned so much about hens since seven came home early in April. Three went to a friend. The frustration and the miracle of beautiful eggs are worth it. And do not worry, people. Eggs come. Mine began laying at 21 weeks. The last clocked in at 23 weeks. My neighbor has 13 chickens and hers began earlier--different breed. I'd be like a nervous Nellie, and she'd tell me about all the laying hens, the quiches, the double yokers. Funny!

 

[frick01]

Thanks for giving me an ovation! I didn't even know there was such a thing. I just had to make one addition. This feels foolish and odd and maudlin; but I remember when I was pregnant and how wonderful it felt to be a part of some fairly predictable thing. Life often feels so unpredictable and disorderly and without pattern; but I knew that this physical pregnancy would, hopefully, be like ones so many other women experienced: I could read a book that would tell me how the baby would look and the stages, and I was part of some large community: the community of pregnant women. When I see hens doing their thing, I am reminded of this pattern in a microcosm: of the weeks it takes to grow from chick to chicken, of the time when a chicken drops her eggs. There are larger eggs and smaller eggs, and I found one egg without a shell that was soft and squishy and not fully formed. The hen sitting above the box laid that. But, every morning, the hens are there, unique and the same, and this satisfies me so much because things in the world aren't like that. One day I receive an award for a poem written and the next my doctor of 15 years walks out of the office and leaves over 500 patients stranded. But the sun rises and sets, and the moments with the chickens draw themselves out like taffy. I am sitting on a chair watching them. I am going nowhere for these moments, and this nowhere feels so right.

I'm sorry that I've gone on. Really I just wanted to thank people and to say that YEAH Frick, our very independent and different hen, got into my expensive box, and she laid an egg in it. I had put another egg there from the box all the hens were using; and, after days of placing different new eggs there, she took the bait. Sure, she faced the wall and pooped on the roost. It was darker and safer that way. Sure, she moved from the old safe box to the plastic box, back and forth and back and forth, but she made up her mind. Perhaps she felt it was enough of just sticking her head in that old box while two hens were inside and one on top. Perhaps she embraced her own independence, for she had been the one of seven always to hear the beat of another drummer. Perhaps she cold no longer stand in line at the old box. The new grey box has been christened. And the sun will rise, and the sun will set.

 

[geojerry]

I was waiting, then this evening I went to tend the hens and I found our FIRST egg. Hens are about 4 months old. RIR AND SLW.

 

[Granny368W]

I was waiting, then this evening I went to tend the hens and I found our FIRST egg. Hens are about 4 months old. RIR AND SLW.

YIPPEE!! I'm glad you are getting eggs! Rae

 

[frick01]

Congratulations! And it's big for a first egg.

 

[LDzuray]

My Silver Appleyard duck Winnie laid her first egg!!!!Poor baby it is the size of a goose egg!