First Egg Countdown

[pginsber]

PGINSBER, do you know when Aretha was born? Mine were born about March 11th.

Doug

Hi, Doug.
Aretha was born March 21st. We have 2 others that were born on March 31st which seem much farther away from laying their first egg. A little over 18 weeks old.
Aretha has not layed another egg since Sunday. Do you think I should be concerned? Everything about this first-time-chicken-mom thing makes me a nervous wreck!
It's exciting though!!

 

[DuginMT]

Aretha is an outstanding bird to be laying that early! You must take very good care of them. I would not worry about the time gap between eggs. That is normal when they are starting out. I'm still waiting for my second BA egg, the first was laid Sunday. This morning, one of my barred rocks laid her first little egg!

 

[pginsber]

Awesome. She's just singing about her egg, pretty cool huh? I love the egg song, way better than crowing rooster.
Just the nature of the bird. I've read on here that some haven't layed until they are 8 months old, with the bonus of that being they will lay longer in their life, as opposed to some leghorns who are almost done by the age of 3. This is my first time having chickens, we have 7 girls and 5 are laying, they are all 21.5 weeks old. One of our 2 white leghorns started 6(!) weeks ago.

What I've found is the first 5 or so are small compared to what each chicken will eventually lay. Last week we got 32 eggs! When we started this chicken thing, we were not expecting any eggs until about now or later, and are very pleased to get them so early. They are so much better than store eggs, which are usually 2 months old when you get them.

Hi, Too Fast.
My 18 week old cream legbar laid her first egg on Sunday afternoon. We had no egg yesterday and nothing today (Tuesday) morning. If there's no egg in the nest wehn I go home today, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. In addition to their first eggs being small, are their first eggs also irregularly laid in terms of hours? I was anticipating a cream legbar to lay 5 eggs a week.

 

[pginsber]

Aretha is an outstanding bird to be laying that early! You must take very good care of them. I would not worry about the time gap between eggs. That is normal when they are starting out. I'm still waiting for my second BA egg, the first was laid Sunday. This morning, one of my barred rocks laid her first little egg!

Thanks, DuginMT--that makes me feel better. We've been handling and socializing these girls since day 1, and they are sweet and spoiled.
I thought I'd teach them their names, but that's probably not going to happen. All that seems to be happening is THEY are teaching ME what foods they like and don't like, and when they want treats.

 

[pginsber]

Aretha is an outstanding bird to be laying that early! You must take very good care of them. I would not worry about the time gap between eggs. That is normal when they are starting out. I'm still waiting for my second BA egg, the first was laid Sunday. This morning, one of my barred rocks laid her first little egg!

Great news on the new barred rock egg. You're about to be overrun with eggs from the sounds of it! How many birds do you have?
We went to the grocery store last night, and walked right past the eggs for the first time. We looked at each other and just smiled from ear to ear. It's really cool to have fresh eggs.
I DO hope all the girls don't take to screaming the Egg Song at the same time. We have a golden cuckoo maran that is already very chatty and she's only 16 weeks old. I can definitely see her getting into a loud duet of the Egg Song when she starts laying.

 

[DuginMT]

I have 12 pullets and one cockerel. Picked them up a a local farm supply store as 1-4 day old chicks, back on March 15th and 17th. Yep, hoping to be getting 8-10 eggs per day before winter sets in. Will be giving some to the neighbors to help them put up with my rooster! He is the Buff Orpington shown in my Avatar, and getting very big and noisy now! A good rooster though, and protective of his flock.

 

[ChickenFox]

It's not my first egg but it is my white Jap Banty Squeaker's first egg! Wait does it count for me if it's the first Bantam egg I've gotten?

Unfortunately it got squished when I was moving a stray board that was in their run but it was still intact enough for me to see that it was indeed fertile! I fried it over easy and gave the pup so it wouldn't go to waste. What a cute little cream egg! Can't wait to see one intact!

 

[MashedPotatos]

AHHHH!!!!!!

Today i got my VERY first egg at 18 weeks and 2 days!!!!!!!!! My egg story.....

This morning i came home from the library to hear what i thought was a small rat dog. My dogs were going nuts and i come to find out its my chicken "barking" I knew what was going to happen she was going to lay an egg today and it was the best feeling in the world! So later on i grabbed my rabbits because they needed to be washed and there i see my chicken "Tiny" squatting while sitting in the nesting boxes. So I went out side and had a gut feeling, while bathing my rabbits so i go and look in the nesting boxes and there it is the happiest moment of the chicken business. a TINY little egg is sitting in the box.

 

[ChickenFox]

AHHHH!!!!!!

Today i got my VERY first egg at 18 weeks and 2 days!!!!!!!!! My egg story.....

This morning i came home from the library to hear what i thought was a small rat dog. My dogs were going nuts and i come to find out its my chicken "barking" I knew what was going to happen she was going to lay an egg today and it was the best feeling in the world! So later on i grabbed my rabbits because they needed to be washed and there i see my chicken "Tiny" squatting while sitting in the nesting boxes. So I went out side and had a gut feeling, while bathing my rabbits so i go and look in the nesting boxes and there it is the happiest moment of the chicken business. a TINY little egg is sitting in the box.

 

[Too Fast]

Great news on the new barred rock egg. You're about to be overrun with eggs from the sounds of it! How many birds do you have?
We went to the grocery store last night, and walked right past the eggs for the first time. We looked at each other and just smiled from ear to ear. It's really cool to have fresh eggs.
I DO hope all the girls don't take to screaming the Egg Song at the same time. We have a golden cuckoo maran that is already very chatty and she's only 16 weeks old. I can definitely see her getting into a loud duet of the Egg Song when she starts laying.

But you do want the Egg Song to be sung by all. Very fun to hear. Also, it IS so nice to be able to walk by the 'eggs' at the grocery store. The difference is like getting a fresh tomato from your backyard vs. a tomato from your local grocery store. Hey, I finally found out how to describe to my friends the difference between a store egg and my backyard eggs!

Hi, Too Fast.
My 18 week old cream legbar laid her first egg on Sunday afternoon. We had no egg yesterday and nothing today (Tuesday) morning. If there's no egg in the nest wehn I go home today, I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. In addition to their first eggs being small, are their first eggs also irregularly laid in terms of hours? I was anticipating a cream legbar to lay 5 eggs a week.

So did you get another egg today? I DO know what you meant about having a breakdown about the eggs lol. Yes, when they first lay it is irregular, and the times of day are irrregular also. She's only 18 weeks, so don't eggspect any regularity for 2-3 more weeks.

Have you checked out the Indiana backyard chickens thread? Leave it for a day, and try to read thru 30 posts lol. We are a very active bunch there, and had a great time at Chickenfest '13 on July 28th.