First Egg Countdown

[Pele]

Yes congrats to Chickenlickin8, 14chickenmama, and Sunny& the 5 egglayers!!! Yay for new eggs! And welcome Chick15!!

Auscal, I'm sorry that your girls are holding out on you.

Jerusha I'm sorry that you got a membrane egg, those are very common for girls new to the game. I think their systems need a warmup sometime. The good news is that you should get a good egg either tomorrow or the next day!

h8snags, to answer your question, from what I understand BOs generally lay around week 19 to 20. Most girls start in the morning, but since they don't have internal Swiss watches, they can lay at any time before evening.

Sunny & the 5 egglayers, I actually had a girl do the same exact thing with her first egg. I think they don't really realize what's happening the first time, or it comes on too fast for them. Poor Darla put her first egg onto the floor of the run, and looked deeply confused for the rest of the day. They'll make it to the nesting boxes! If my resident blonde chicken can do it, so can yours!

 

[Jerusha]

Winnie my GLW laid her first egg today too! And she got it right. I guess because she and Princess were best friends they waited for each other, lol.

 

[Jerusha]

Pele, is it possible for Princess to lay another egg today? The membrane egg was in there this morning when I went to let them out of the coop. For the past hour princess has been in the coop making noises and sitting on the nest then getting off the nest. And when she turns around I can see her bottom, squeezing like she's doing kegel exercises.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I just got my 3rd egg this morning from one of my girls (I think it was a brahma). But I think she was sitting on the roost when she laid it and the it was all broken and gross.

Congratulations to everyone with their first eggs!

 

[Crazy4mypeeps]

Finally got a pretty blue egg from one of my three Ameracaunas! Yay!

 

[Pele]

Quote:
Yes, actually! It's kind of 'anything is fair game' on what they'll do when they start. Some girls step into egg laying like it's no big deal. Some lay a tiny first egg, wait a few days, then get going. And some let them 'pile up' , which sounds like what your girl is doing. I'll cross my fingers for you!

And congrats Crazy4mypeeps!!! Blue is so pretty, pictures please!!!!

 

[samouw]

Well now I am so miffed!! One of my hens is NOT a rare breed chicken, a Layanoegga, but apparently she is just your plain, ordinary, every day Rhode Island Red. Man...someone has some explaining to do!!


NOT!!

ROFL - Actually, I have been

ever since I got back from the vets and found this little prize in the nest box.

I don't even care that it was broken. I figure that is my fault for not refreshing the straw after the girls pulled out the last bunch to play with it in the coop. Now...all straw refreshed...all hens praised (can't leave anyone out and get hurt feelings, ya know) and new, broken egg taped over and gently placed in fridge.

I suspect one of these two:

Miss Gussey:

or Big Bertha:

Ok...now just 13 more "first eggs" to go!!

Edited to add that my girls are approximately 19.5 weeks old. We brought them home on March 11 and our best guess is that they were between 10 days and 2 weeks old then.

 

[ChickenLord]

Well I'm officially on egg watch as well. The girls (and Rudy) were hatched 25 march, so if my math is correct, they're right at 16 weeks today.
We have 3 each Cuckoo Marans, Barred Rocks, and Black Stars. I see two of the Marans are looking mature, so I'm hoping to have some chocolate brown eggs in a week or two at the most. This is coop cleaning weekend, so fresh straw will be down, and I may even place ceramic eggs in the nest boxes to encourage them. Our countdown is on.

 

[TwoCrows]

My Black Australorp girls are 18 1/2 weeks old and their combs and wattles are still so small!

One of the girls is just now starting to redden in the face and the tiny comb has a lot of red in it. But it is going to be a loooong while before I find an egg. Sigh....

 

[BrynnRDH]

I can't remember if I posted in this thread or not!

I have four 18 1/2 week old pullets and I'm happy to report that today the Buff Orpington started squatting!

They've also been chowing down oyster shell like it's skittles. I figure that's a good sign that they're craving calcium. I also have a GLW, a SS, and an EE.