First Egg Countdown

[Nelson-90]

Hello 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.

congrats and your welcome

 

[Flowerbh]

Some of mine lay about 3-4 o'clock. She may have another place she is laying.

 

[suppersong]

Thanks! The same Barred Rock hen took a day off yesterday, but laid her second egg ever today--perfection! Very cute watching her put straws on her back while laying, too. Very funny behavior.

 

[MissusC]

I actually envy you the heat--it's been a week of mud and New England rain here. But what a magnificent coop you guys built! I'm sure there will be magnificent eggs to match soon. I got no egg today, but one of my Araucanas has been in and out of the nesting boxes all day.

My 6 yo ate the first egg hardboiled today. She said it was great. Now waiting my turn!

I guess I wouldn't mind the heat so much if we got a break. We don't have fall here in San Diego, we have Summer then Fire Season. I am seeing that it is supposed to cool down this weekend to the 80s. Fingers crossed. Some rain would be great too to knock down some of the fire hazard.

Thanks for the coop love. I can't wait to find some fun decorations for it, but that has to wait for some fundage.

I am jealous of your 6 yo. My 3.5 yo will get our first egg too. Lucky kiddos!

 

[suppersong]

Suppersong- Welcome to BYC! I meant to say so earlier, but I forgot.

I just want to say that my two red stars/golden comets lay like clockwork every morning before the sun even comes up completely. I fear for their future reproductive health, but they are very dependable layers. For now, anyway. I worried about one of them because for about a week she laid duck-sized double yolkers ( ever day) that wouldn't fit in the jumbo cartons. I kept worrying/waiting for her to get egg bound or have one break inside.

No eggs from barnevelder yet, and no egg from welsummer in a week and a half but haven't seen her in the nest box. The girls are locked up every day til at least 1:00 so I don't think she's hiding eggs. No egg white mess in nests, on floor of coop, or on hens' faces. Hmmm.

Thank you! I am loving it all--being on BYC, and getting eggs finally, and learning about my chooks. The only problem with getting eggs is that I'm now even more distracted than before. Those girls are so interesting when they're about to lay. Very hard to get my articles done (I work from home). Hmm, finish another 700 words, or go see if someone's laid something? Tough choice!

 

[off-grid hen]

They can be really cute with the camouflaging. I have a few hens who do that. Once I was talking to one in the best box, and I tossed a few shavings on her back after petting her. Well! You would have thought she was in a white evening gown and I just threw red wine on her! She got up, shook it off, glared at me, then went to a different nest box.

The other hens usually coo and cluck at me when I do that.

 

[Gifa]

I'll be at 20 weeks on my little flock on Wednesday. I super stuffed the nestboxes with some fresh straw and ran my fingers around in a circle in the middle to get that nestlike crater look... I've got 2 golf balls in one, and 1 in the other. I know they're investigating the boxes because I find the straw spilled out of them when I go to scoop the coop.

I fully expect Zoe, my brown leghorn, to turn on first... She's been squatty-ish for a couple of weeks, and a little more vocal in the last couple of days... nothing outright egg song-like yet... She's also been going into the coop more during the day rather than staying out in the yard... so I really think we're close.

My SL Wyandottes should turn on soon also. Nandi's comb and wattles are outrageous, and Inara's gotten huge... she's bigger than Nandi now. No obvious squatting behavior, but they are a lot less crabby about being picked up. They're still pretty quiet still too.

As for the EEs... I've got a couple of smaller, leghorn-sized EEs and a couple of bigger EEs, I don't know if that makes any difference, and I know they take their time... so I'm not going to expect anything out of them until spring. If I start getting some sooner, well that's great... if not, it's ok.

 

[Nikki99]

They can be really cute with the camouflaging. I have a few hens who do that. Once I was talking to one in the best box, and I tossed a few shavings on her back after petting her. Well! You would have thought she was in a white evening gown and I just threw red wine on her! She got up, shook it off, glared at me, then went to a different nest box.

The other hens usually coo and cluck at me when I do that.

Silly girls!

 

[suppersong]

My SL Wyandottes should turn on soon also. Nandi's comb and wattles are outrageous, and Inara's gotten huge... she's bigger than Nandi now. No obvious squatting behavior, but they are a lot less crabby about being picked up. They're still pretty quiet still too.

Yeah, I have two SL Wyandottes too. Stripèd laid her first egg a few days ago, at 21.5 weeks. Stormy's still waiting (she's just started squatting), but she thinks she's basically the same bird as Stripèd anyway. She squirreled right into the nest box (or tried to) when Stripèd was laying, and when Stripèd sang her egg song, Stormy joined in! It's cute--but she still needs to lay her own egg already.

 

[Nikki99]

She squirreled right into the nest box (or tried to) when Stripèd was laying, and when Stripèd sang her egg song, Stormy joined in! It's cute--but she still needs to lay her own egg already.

Awww, that's cute and funny.