First egg questions!

[A1momof3]

I have been noting for the past couple of weeks all the my hen's signs for getting ready to lay. This morning I found my first egg!!!

I am so excited and everyone I showed it to said it sure is small! No one shared in my excitement ..... they just pointed out the lack of size. LOL

So I am wondering how long before they start getting bigger in size? I have RIR and BPR that are starting to lay and I know they have large brown eggs. This one wasn't that brown either. Do they darken up as the get older and been laying longer?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

It is very normal for the first egg to be small. You just fry that little thing up and enjoy it!! Generally speaking, they will start out small and grow over their first laying season. That being said, you might also end up getting some big double yolkers! That will put the family in their place!

 

[krista74]

With eggs, it's not about the size, it's what you do with it

Make yourself a lovely piece of toast, fry that egg up in some butter, and sit in front of your family while you eat it, lol.

My Orpies lay quite small eggs (they have been laying a couple of months now) but my RIR's lay huge eggs, in varying shades of brown, and did so right from the start.

My RIR girls actually make straining noises as they lay! Their eggs are around the 77g mark, so no wonder!

Krista

 

[A1momof3]

With eggs, it's not about the size, it's what you do with it

Make yourself a lovely piece of toast, fry that egg up in some butter, and sit in front of your family while you eat it, lol.

My Orpies lay quite small eggs (they have been laying a couple of months now) but my RIR's lay huge eggs, in varying shades of brown, and did so right from the start.

My RIR girls actually make straining noises as they lay! Their eggs are around the 77g mark, so no wonder!

Krista

On your Orpies, do you have a rooster and if so what were the first signs that told you that you had a rooster? Some breeds have better signs than others and I have 2 and I know nothing about this breed. But I am learning.

 

[krista74]

I do have a rooster, he is a big, beautiful BO too.

I knew straight up he was a rooster as when I bought him he was caged with the BO girls (x2) and he looked heaps different. He exhibited all of the classic rooster signs: He was just massive standing next to the girls, and he was very upright in his posture, with a huge red comb and wattles, and prominent sickle/saddle feathers. There was no mistaking him!

I have not yet raised any chicks from my girls. They are only about 6-7 months old, and have only just started laying fairly recently. I am hoping that one will go broody this summer (and with BO's, that is highly likely!)

Apparently the BO's are very hard to sex. They are slow to develop, and many pictures I've seen on this site have people undecided. My girls still have extremely small pink combs despite laying eggs for 2 months now. My RIR's have huge red combs and wattles (and yes, they are girls - they all lay eggs!) For a while though I was convinced they were all boys.

How many chickens do you have?

Krista

 

[A1momof3]

I do have a rooster, he is a big, beautiful BO too.

I knew straight up he was a rooster as when I bought him he was caged with the BO girls (x2) and he looked heaps different. He exhibited all of the classic rooster signs: He was just massive standing next to the girls, and he was very upright in his posture, with a huge red comb and wattles, and prominent sickle/saddle feathers. There was no mistaking him!

I have not yet raised any chicks from my girls. They are only about 6-7 months old, and have only just started laying fairly recently. I am hoping that one will go broody this summer (and with BO's, that is highly likely!)

Apparently the BO's are very hard to sex. They are slow to develop, and many pictures I've seen on this site have people undecided. My girls still have extremely small pink combs despite laying eggs for 2 months now. My RIR's have huge red combs and wattles (and yes, they are girls - they all lay eggs!) For a while though I was convinced they were all boys.

How many chickens do you have?

Krista

I now have 36... I have 15 RIR and 5 Plymouth rock that are 18 week and out of that bunch I ended up with 2 roos both RIR and they were easy to figure out. The white on them as chicks makes that easy. LOL The Plymouth rock the roos are a lighter black than the hens and this original group has just started laying and I am super excited. I have 2 silkies that are 4 weeks younger than the orginal group. I also have 3 Black Copper Marans 2 hen and one roo. Then last week I got 11 new ones, a good mix with Crested cream legbars, olive eggers, my LO and a splash O, 2 Brahma- Gold/Blue Partridge and 3 silkie/frizzles, oh and 1 buff laced polish. LOL

I LOVE the guessing game and trying to figure out who is what. But I am really excited about my last group of chicks. I am trying to move into a breeding position for next year. But I know what you mean about the RIR combs and wattles. LOL My roo is huge and so pretty. But the PR their combs and wattles are much smaller than the reds but they get very very red.

 

[krista74]

Wow, you are way ahead of me in the flock department!

I only have 6 pullets (the 4 RIR's and 2 BO's) and my BO cockerel.

I would love to add more though. As you do when you get bitten by the chicken bug.

I am thinking about getting a couple of Silver-Laced Wyandottes. I love the big fluffy birds, and so far I've been lucky in that all of mine get along well.

I managed to post a picture of my BO cockerel a couple of threads down - I think it was called Rooster Love? Anyway, you will see looking at George's photo that he is ALL BOY! It's very easy to pick when they are at that age and they are flashing all of their feathers at you like he does!

Krista

 

[A1momof3]

Wow, you are way ahead of me in the flock department!

I only have 6 pullets (the 4 RIR's and 2 BO's) and my BO cockerel.

I would love to add more though. As you do when you get bitten by the chicken bug.

I am thinking about getting a couple of Silver-Laced Wyandottes. I love the big fluffy birds, and so far I've been lucky in that all of mine get along well.

I managed to post a picture of my BO cockerel a couple of threads down - I think it was called Rooster Love? Anyway, you will see looking at George's photo that he is ALL BOY! It's very easy to pick when they are at that age and they are flashing all of their feathers at you like he does!

Krista

I will have to see if I can find him. I LOVE roos but I don't want roos if I don't have hens. LOL I was suppose to get silver laced wyandottes with this last batch but they didn't hatch in time. So they are still on my list! LOL My kids call me crazy chicken lady.... I tell them it's Poultry enthusiast!