First Egg Countdown

[locoguru]

Gratz to everyone getting eggs. We have gotten 4 in the last 6 days from 1 RSL of the 4 20 week old ones we have. The others should start laying this week then I can make an omelet! The fried eggs were so good!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Okay, thanks! I was wanting to worm her but I don't if she is laying (I don't want to wait any longer for eggs! lol). So if she stops I'll go ahead and worm her.

Worm her in the fall when she molts, that way you don't have to toss as many eggs. That is when I worm mine.

 

[roheryn]

My girls waited until I left for the weekend... I knew they would lay the one weekend I was gone! I gave very specific instructions to my friend who was watching them, and Saturday night I got a pic of my first egg! Even though I wasn't there, I was dancing around and telling all the people at the campground that we had our first egg (I think they thought I'd had a bit too much wine...) It is from our Cochin (Cochina) who was the first to do the egg crouch. She is 5 days older than her Ameraucana (EE?) coop-mates so I figured she would be first. She was born Feb 21, the others Feb 25 so very close in age. Cochina laid her first by the waterer, the second behind the hen house, and when I got back yesterday afternoon, I found one in the nest box. So I worked outside all day today to see if I could see an egg, and Cochina went in and out of the box several times but no egg. After dinner, she was really in the box a lot, and kicking all the pine shavings out. Chestnut (the Am) was with her, and Sunshine came and went. Lots of murmuring and coos (I figured they were coaching) and a few squawks... I sat out on the deck next to the coop listening to them (what a great way to spend time!) because I was just sure she was in there laying an egg.

Then I hear a lot of bawking and squawking and both Cochina and Chestnut run out of the coop and start drinking water. I opened the egg box, and lo, there were two eggs!!! I guess it was less coaching and more teaching! Both eggs are pale brown, so maybe I do have an EE. Do the eggs change color? They are both pretty small, but I know they will get bigger. I am just so excited. Now we need the last girl to even crouch, but I'll be interested to see her egg color. My 7yo had scrambled eggs for dinner tonight and will probably eat lots of eggs for a while. So satisfying to have the eggs finally, but they seem much more friendly now... is that a maturity thing?

 

[elsiebb]

It WAS a double yolker! How did you know?

 

[Too Fast]

Aretha made a ruckus when she was preparing to lay, but made TONS of squawking after she laid and we took it from the coop. We weren't sure if she was mad because we took it, or just hooting about this crazy thing that just happened to her. I had no idea there was an EGG SONG.

Awesome. She's just singing about her egg, pretty cool huh? I love the egg song, way better than crowing rooster.

I have a Red Sex Link, a Blue Andalusian and a Brown Leghorn that are almost 23 weeks old. The Red Sex Link squatted for me today and let me pet her and she hasn't let me pet her since she was a baby. I also have a Barred Rock that is about 21 weeks old.

Why do some chickens start laying around 18 weeks and others take so much longer. What is the longest it could take? I'm so eager to start getting eggs.

My first time to have chickens. I live in the city and have built a coop and run in my alley. They are so entertaining! But I want some eggs!!! LOL

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.

 

[Too Fast]

eyotig - as for when to open the nest boxes... I didn't open mine until i saw the first egg. I opened them that evening. The next two eggs were still on the ground, but I put one of the eggs in one of the boxes (which isn't recommended, best to use a "fake egg" but I didn't have one, so I used a "real" egg) - and the next day I had an egg in the nest box. I haven't had any more on the ground... although only 2 of my 5 are laying at this point (23 weeks old today) - they started laying I guess 2 weeks ago... but like us women, I guess everyone starts at slightly different times. But my dad told me to not open the boxes until you see the first egg. You don't want them sleeping in the boxes and getting them all "poopy".

Different opinions about the nest boxes. Ours have been open and the chickens have been in our coop since they were 5 weeks old, they never slept in them that I could tell. Our roosting bars had a ladder they could climb to reach the roosts, maybe that helped with thier instinct to roost high. Our nest boxes are about 8 inches above the coop floor. We had 8 chickens at the time, now 7 since 2 of the original were roosters. We've had golf balls in there for 8 weeks now, I can probably take them out since we are getting over 30 eggs/week, only 2 of the girls aren't laying.

 

[Too Fast]

My girls waited until I left for the weekend... I knew they would lay the one weekend I was gone! I gave very specific instructions to my friend who was watching them, and Saturday night I got a pic of my first egg! Even though I wasn't there, I was dancing around and telling all the people at the campground that we had our first egg (I think they thought I'd had a bit too much wine...) It is from our Cochin (Cochina) who was the first to do the egg crouch. She is 5 days older than her Ameraucana (EE?) coop-mates so I figured she would be first. She was born Feb 21, the others Feb 25 so very close in age. Cochina laid her first by the waterer, the second behind the hen house, and when I got back yesterday afternoon, I found one in the nest box. So I worked outside all day today to see if I could see an egg, and Cochina went in and out of the box several times but no egg. After dinner, she was really in the box a lot, and kicking all the pine shavings out. Chestnut (the Am) was with her, and Sunshine came and went. Lots of murmuring and coos (I figured they were coaching) and a few squawks... I sat out on the deck next to the coop listening to them (what a great way to spend time!) because I was just sure she was in there laying an egg.

Then I hear a lot of bawking and squawking and both Cochina and Chestnut run out of the coop and start drinking water. I opened the egg box, and lo, there were two eggs!!! I guess it was less coaching and more teaching! Both eggs are pale brown, so maybe I do have an EE. Do the eggs change color? They are both pretty small, but I know they will get bigger. I am just so excited. Now we need the last girl to even crouch, but I'll be interested to see her egg color. My 7yo had scrambled eggs for dinner tonight and will probably eat lots of eggs for a while. So satisfying to have the eggs finally, but they seem much more friendly now... is that a maturity thing?

Congrats on the eggs! We love hearing the egg song, and it IS funny to see them run out of the coop after they lay, especially if they sing.

It WAS a double yolker! How did you know?

You can tell by the size/shape usually. The longer/bigger eggs are usually double/triple yolkers. (Wasn't me who guessed, but I do know next weeks lottos numbers.)

 

[Happy Chooks]

My girls waited until I left for the weekend... I knew they would lay the one weekend I was gone! I gave very specific instructions to my friend who was watching them, and Saturday night I got a pic of my first egg! Even though I wasn't there, I was dancing around and telling all the people at the campground that we had our first egg (I think they thought I'd had a bit too much wine...) It is from our Cochin (Cochina) who was the first to do the egg crouch. She is 5 days older than her Ameraucana (EE?) coop-mates so I figured she would be first. She was born Feb 21, the others Feb 25 so very close in age. Cochina laid her first by the waterer, the second behind the hen house, and when I got back yesterday afternoon, I found one in the nest box. So I worked outside all day today to see if I could see an egg, and Cochina went in and out of the box several times but no egg. After dinner, she was really in the box a lot, and kicking all the pine shavings out. Chestnut (the Am) was with her, and Sunshine came and went. Lots of murmuring and coos (I figured they were coaching) and a few squawks... I sat out on the deck next to the coop listening to them (what a great way to spend time!) because I was just sure she was in there laying an egg.

Then I hear a lot of bawking and squawking and both Cochina and Chestnut run out of the coop and start drinking water. I opened the egg box, and lo, there were two eggs!!! I guess it was less coaching and more teaching! Both eggs are pale brown, so maybe I do have an EE. Do the eggs change color? They are both pretty small, but I know they will get bigger. I am just so excited. Now we need the last girl to even crouch, but I'll be interested to see her egg color. My 7yo had scrambled eggs for dinner tonight and will probably eat lots of eggs for a while. So satisfying to have the eggs finally, but they seem much more friendly now... is that a maturity thing?

Your girls are EE's and no, the egg will not change color. If she lays brown now, she will always lay brown. Congrats!

It WAS a double yolker! How did you know?

The size and shape of the egg. First eggs are not that large unless they are double yolkers.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

My Easter Egger, Isabella, laid her first egg yesterday. She's my only chick to lay a colored egg, so I was waiting and hoping for a blue, but it is more green than blue, but very pretty. Yay! Now I can tell when she lays, when little Red (sex link) lays because they are darker brown, and when my only white leghorn lays because they are bright white. My older hens all lay the same color, tan. Fun, fun.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My Easter Egger, Isabella, laid her first egg yesterday. She's my only chick to lay a colored egg, so I was waiting and hoping for a blue, but it is more green than blue, but very pretty. Yay! Now I can tell when she lays, when little Red (sex link) lays because they are darker brown, and when my only white leghorn lays because they are bright white. My older hens all lay the same color, tan. Fun, fun.

Congrats!