congrats and your welcomeHello everybody, I've been visiting BYC for chicken advice for months, but this is my first post. I got my 8 chooks as day-olds on May 10th, so they turned 21 weeks old today. To celebrate, one of my Barred Rocks, One Patch (she's the one pictured as my avatar), laid the very first egg of the whole flock!
She was the first to have red comb & wattles, the first to squat (about 2 weeks ago), and the first to start acting super-freaky (as of yesterday). She'd been complaining and pacing and going in and out of the nest box for two days! and pecking at anyone who looked like they might get between her and her box. A bit before 1pm today, she finally settled into the box and suddenly quieted down (just as I was thinking of going inside again and Googling "egg-laying behavior" for the umpteenth time). When she left the box, she was acting so casual I thought she'd maybe given up for the day--no egg song or anything--but when I went to check, there it was! Little lovely brown egg, just the size of the wooden dummy egg I'd put in to show the girls where to lay. Almost as if she saw the dummy and decided she'd better make one just like it!
Smart little chook!
I did a longer post on my blog. First Egg! in case it is of interest. Thanks to all you BYC'ers who have made my wait less anxious and more informed over the last few weeks.