An egg? So soon?

[ScottyHOMEy]

It will no doubt still be some time still before they're all layin' regularly, but one of this years pullets (3 RSL, 1 BSL, 2WW, 1 BR and 1 BO) laid her first egg this morning. And a fine egg it is, too.

I'd have expected the first ones to be small (and maybe this one is for what they will eventually be, but it rests as the sole brown specimen in the carton of store-bought Grade A large white eggs Miss Karee has in the fridge and it's larger than any of them.

Don't know which one to suspect/congratulate/thank. I' guess the SLs are known for starting to lay earlyand the black and one of the red ones are larger than most of the rest. But there's a White Wyandotte in there. I've kept an eye on her because she developed a crossed beak, but she's one of the top dogs and is a quarter-again bigger than the next in size, so I guess she's doin' just fine, and might the the one to get the blue ribbon for first egg.

Never woulda thunk it this soon. The birds just hatched 12 weeks ago today.

 

[galanie]

It's probably the one with the reddest comb and face. My vote is on the sex links, too.

 

[thehbcrew]

thats crazy, mine are on their 19th week no eggs yet

hoping soon.

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

I've put in a fair amount of time ponderin' on this, and it doesn't make sense. I'm nursin' an inkling that a certain neighbor (a VERY good neighbor, please don't mistake my tone here) may be triflin' with me, just to see if he can get me goin'. He's got a new flock that he bought as pullets a few weeks back that I'd guesstimate are about 6-10 weeks older than mine. Among his pullets are a couple of rooosters who have just begun to tune their vocal chords, so I shouldn't be surprised if a few of the girls among them might have begun layin'. It would not be unlike him or his wife to have slipped one of their first eggs into my coop. I called him up after the thought came to mind, but I couldn't smoke him out.

Next step on my part is to chat him up over the weekend about it, allow as how it will be great but may be a fluke, but if whichever one of mine it is keeps layin, well . . .great! If I don't see any more eggs for another 6-8 weeks, I'll know what happened. If I find a nice egg every few days, I will either have a very remarkable bird in the flock, or I'll have a neighbor sneakin' over every day to keep me in fresh, home-grown eggs.

We shall see.

 

[Carolyn]

Glad to see your last post because my first thought was someone was messing with you. The first egg the size of a large egg and at 12 wk? She is a very special hen if it is for real.

 

[Reyvaughn]

My youngest was 15wks - an Amberlink. I wish they all started at 15wks. Heck, 12wks would be better! I have some 29wks old still not laying. I believe my 25wk old Australorps are finally laying (4 of the 6, anyways).

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

Quote:
Yeah . . .

It was all odd enough, I posted this mornin' in the half-hour I had between findin' the egg and leavin' for work. There was an element of

but not entirely out of

mode, either. A great deal of head scratchin' goin' on at that moment.

The challenge now is to smoke out Neighbor Dave or his bride, the Lovely Lisa.

 

[pgpoultry]

It sounds much too young. Post a pic. of her....it should be fairly clear as to whether it would have been possible, but never heard of one so young.

Get yourself a few Brahmas.....they are so long in starting that you will think they must be different forms of roos. 8 months is nothing unusual......yawn!

 

[ScottyHOMEy]

Vindication is mine! I dragged it out of him.

I found the culprit. And I've been had.

As I thought, the egg in the Pullet Palace, could not have been from one of my 12-week-old birds.

It was from a neighbor's across the road, out at the corner. He's a nice fellow, but a tad dull at the edges and not prone to clever pranks.

The culprit, as it turns out, is my next-door Neighbor Dave's daughter, Miss Sarah.

Up 'til this stunt, she's been a sweet kid, but she's startin' to take after her father.

As the story unfolded, she first unleashed her nefarious side upon her father, by placing three of the neighbor's eggs amongst Dave's flock which is quickly developing into birds, almost half of which, as it turns out, are not properly plumbed to ever produce an egg.

His own discomfiture at the sudden appearance of eggs in the litter of his coop prompted her to move farther afield to my own.

There are valid reasons to wonder what kind of values our succeeding generations might have or develop, but I have an idea Miss Sarah will be growing up to be a good, country kind of girl.

 

[JulieNKC]