First egg!

[karenp65]

So excited for my first egg! I wasn't expecting one for at least a month! My oldest chicks are only 17 weeks!
Do I have to worry when I didn't find it in a nest box? I figured it caught the hen by surprise!

 

[b.hromada]

Congrats!!! You shouldn't have a problem. Mine found the nest box fairly easy.

Isn't it egg-citing? Have fun!

 

[MamaChicken4]

17 weeks?! You are so lucky. I can't wait until mine start laying. I'm on pins and needles! Congrats!

 

[theoldchick]

 

[TwoCrows]

Congrats on the egg!!! Nothing more egg-citing than that first egg!!

 

[karenp65]

I assume they will start laying bigger eggs...they are so small! I've gotten one double yoker even! I have to make sure my brother collects the eggs in early afternoon as my girls seem to lay from 10-12 am everyday. I had a few that were rotten when I went to cook them.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I assume they will start laying bigger eggs...they are so small! I've gotten one double yoker even! I have to make sure my brother collects the eggs in early afternoon as my girls seem to lay from 10-12 am everyday. I had a few that were rotten when I went to cook them.

Yep, the eggs do get bigger as they mature. Although not all breeds lay eggs as big as the large sized eggs in the store.

I bet the eggs that were rotten or spoiled probably had really small cracks that you did not notice. Even hairline cracks can let in air, which is what causes spoilage even at cooler temperatures. Whereas eggs that keep the air out are typically fine to eat even if stored at room temperature for a couple weeks (which is how they are sold in many European grocery stores). I examine my eggs for cracks pretty carefully, especially if I am giving them away to someone.

When you consider that biologically the eggshell must keep the egg from rotting for a week or so while the hen is laying her clutch that she will brood (even in warm temperatures).

I suppose it gets pretty hot in Los Banos, CA so collecting eggs in the early afternoon still makes sense of course.

 

[karenp65]

I found a huge egg today! What up with it though?? It's like a rubber egg inside!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Wow that is big. It is hard for me to tell from the photo of the egg in the bowl what you mean by rubbery - like really thick egg white? Any way they do say that when hens first come into lay their eggs can be kind of irregular at first and eventually they tend to settle into a more normal pattern.

 

[theoldchick]

When pullets first start to lay you'll find all sorts of strange eggs until the kinks are worked out.