First Egg Countdown

[DRGLENNON]

My 6 girls lay 36/wk , but I have 2 leghorns,2 sexlinks a BR and a BO. My leghorns still lay 12/wk even though they're molting. They are consistent, I think I will do away with sexlinks and add more leghorns to my next laying flock. My son prefers white eggs.

 

[chicken chickie]

I live in MA, I too thought maybe its too cold and I wasnt getting eggs till spring!  But on October 9th,
I got 2 eggs and been getting 2 a day since, the girls are taking a day off in between so 4 laying every
other day.  This is normal when they first start.  More than just the color of the combs and wattles, You will 
know they are ready when, they squat when you reach out to touch them.  Just get down low, offer a treat
and try to pet (do this slowly as to not scare them) ones that  are ready will squat, pet thier backs then lift
the tail, you will see the vent, it will be wet and look like it's trying to open.  Thats when they are ready! You
will notice the difference in the vents as you go.  But once they squat and let you pet, its a matter of 1-3 days.
Don't worry it will happen.  I actually fed them a can of tuna I read it from an old farmer, within 2 days I had
egg?????  If you do offer tuna do not do it often and be sure to offer grit and oyster shells.  My girls are laying
nice hard shell eggs.  They are on the small size, but this too is normal when they first start laying, in fact they
can be very small from all I've read.  Mine are like small eggs you see in the grocery store!  Good Luck and
dont worry it will happen!  Keep us posted!

good info about the petting and squatting ...my white leghorn does it all the time ( she's laying eggs everyday now) and My RIRs are just starting to squat when I pet them so now I am super excited ....hahaha I thought they did this cause they loved being stroked and I do always move slow and softly and talk to them

 

[sunflower4you]

Hi Sunflower, I was just wondering what part of the country you are in? I've been considering
putting a light in the coop, or just on a timer for a couple of hours in the morning. I'm not keen
on messing with nature, so it's up in the air. I live in MA, my girls began laying on the 9th of
this month, well 4 of the six, daylight has been shorter by 2 hours+ and they began. I'm inclined
not to but well I just dont know? Thanx for your thoughts

I am in the northern Midwest so our days are getting quite a bit shorter, as well. After reading tons of books and comments on BYC, I have decided not to add supplemental lighting, at least for this winter. My girls are not laying yet and I don't want to force the issue if their bodies are not ready. By next fall/winter when they are laying regularly I may light the coop for an extra hour or two. I let them out at 6:30 AM every day before I go to work and I feel bad going out and disturbing them before they are even up! At least if I programmed a light to come on at 6:30 it would be a normal wake-up time for them. I agree with not wanting to mess with nature too much. This is my first time having chickens so I am learning as I go.

 

[DRGLENNON]

Finally got my first blue egg yesterday! Beautiful, blue medium size egg. I will post pics as soon as camera charges. It only took 27 1/2 weeks.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I got 3 eggs today! That means I have 3 laying. All but one is squatting, so I'm expecting a bunch of eggs fairly soon! I have leg horns which usually lay an egg daily once they get going. With 6 ladies, I could get up to 42 eggs per week.

Anybody have some good egg recipes? I've been doing research on the internet. I'm planning some coconut cream pie. Do hope the eggs get a little bigger real soon.

Congrats!

Some of them will take a day off here and there, so you won't be getting an egg every day from each pullet. The days are shorter, so they won't be at maximum production.

Recipes: quiches and angel food cake use up a lot of eggs. (you can use the yolks from the angel food cake for custards or curd) I did a bread pudding that was great and used a lot of eggs, I'll try to find the recipe. There are a lot of recipes in the Recipe section too.

Finally got my first blue egg yesterday! Beautiful, blue medium size egg. I will post pics as soon as camera charges. It only took 27 1/2 weeks.

Congrats!

 

[DRGLENNON]

Thanks Happy Chooks!

 

[farmgirl7]

My 6 girls lay 36/wk , but I have 2 leghorns,2 sexlinks a BR and a BO. My leghorns still lay 12/wk even though they're molting. They are consistent, I think I will do away with sexlinks and add more leghorns to my next laying flock. My son prefers white eggs.

When I bought my leghorns, I also had ordered some EE, but the company my feed store buys from ran out before they got the order. I really wanted some blue or green eggs. My husband won't eat colored eggs of any kind. He's weird that way!

 

[DRGLENNON]

I have 1 EE pullet who just laid her first egg, I was surprised it is as big as my leghorn hens.

 

[sunflower4you]

Finally got my first blue egg yesterday! Beautiful, blue medium size egg. I will post pics as soon as camera charges. It only took 27 1/2 weeks.

Congrats! My EEs are 23 1/2 weeks so I may have up to a month to go. I will probably see the first big snow before I see my first egg!

 

[DRGLENNON]

.
Thank you Sunflower. Here is my first blue egg next to leghorns eggs.