First egg!!

[Ibabz2]

Hello! My 22 week old buff orpington Sunny D laid her first egg today! My Danish brown leghorn Sprinkles (23 weeks old) has been practicing the art of the squat for days and still no egg.

Aside from layer feed is there anything I should supplement their diets with?

 

[N F C]

That first egg is always special (and the rest that follow are pretty cool too)

 

[Riverwood Farm]

That's awesome. I remember our first egg like it was yesterday. (OK, so it was only 3 weeks ago) and today the second member of our chicken family (we have 7) laid her first. The other 5 are still holding out.
As for feed, I've been feeding ours Purina Omega-3 Layer from week 18. They're now 23 weeks. I use the same feed when they are foraging and wanting to scratch. I don't think "commercial" scratch feed has much in the way of nutrition for them, and they seem to eat all of the layer I throw on the ground for them, which I do 5 or 6 times a day. They love to crowd around my feet pecking up the pellets.
For treats, I try to make that good for them as well. They love cooked oatmeal,(cooled off of course) and will take meal worms, but their favorite is blue berries. I buy big bags of frozen berries from wally world. Try to hold the berries tight so they don't swallow them whole. It's much more fun, for us at least.

 

[Ibabz2]

That's awesome. I remember our first egg like it was yesterday. (OK, so it was only 3 weeks ago) and today the second member of our chicken family (we have 7) laid her first. The other 5 are still holding out.
As for feed, I've been feeding ours Purina Omega-3 Layer from week 18. They're now 23 weeks. I use the same feed when they are foraging and wanting to scratch. I don't think "commercial" scratch feed has much in the way of nutrition for them, and they seem to eat all of the layer I throw on the ground for them, which I do 5 or 6 times a day. They love to crowd around my feet pecking up the pellets.
For treats, I try to make that good for them as well. They love cooked oatmeal,(cooled off of course) and will take meal worms, but their favorite is blue berries. I buy big bags of frozen berries from wally world. Try to hold the berries tight so they don't swallow them whole. It's much more fun, for us at least.

Thanks for the information!! I have 7 also! Soon to be 6 though my silkie fufu is a roo and started crowing so the farm is taking him back. Haven't determined if I should replace him. Integrating 1 is too hard I think.

 

[Ibabz2]

Is it normal for a chicken to lay an egg without a shell? I'm pretty sure my Danish leghorn was the one who laid it. It's her first egg.

 

[N F C]

Is it normal for a chicken to lay an egg without a shell? I'm pretty sure my Danish leghorn was the one who laid it. It's her first egg.

That's not uncommon. Sometimes it just take a little time for them to work out the egg laying kinks. Here's an interesting article from the Learning Center on egg abnormalities:
common-egg-quality-problems.65923

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Hello! My 22 week old buff orpington Sunny D laid her first egg today! My Danish brown leghorn Sprinkles (23 weeks old) has been practicing the art of the squat for days and still no egg.

Aside from layer feed is there anything I should supplement their diets with?

How exciting for you

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Is it normal for a chicken to lay an egg without a shell? I'm pretty sure my Danish leghorn was the one who laid it. It's her first egg.

I also got my first egg this past Labor Day and it was shelless too. I found it in the morning and it was laying on the poop board underneath the roost

 

[Ibabz2]

That's not uncommon. Sometimes it just take a little time for them to work out the egg laying kinks. Here's an interesting article from the Learning Center on egg abnormalities:
common-egg-quality-problems.65923

This was super helpful- thank you!