FIRST EGGS ! unfortunately not in the nest lol

[lonelychicken]

I have 5 hens the oldest is blue cochin, Ella is 20 weeks then Beyonce, a partridge cochin is 17 weeks, buff orpington is 16 weeks and the black cochin and copper maran mix are 14 weeks.

Found 3 eggs this am under the roosing poles - have read that this is not abit unusual - one of the 3 was cracked under the bottom, but not leaking so I placed it in one of my nesting buckets and I will get some fake eggs to use as well.

I am suspecting that it was the 3 oldest girls who provided these first 3 eggs.

My question is this - the 2 surviving eggs were definitely medium size - will they get bigger as the hens get older?

I also have to share that I was of course very eggcited lol - but my 4 1/2 year old nephew is now living with me and let him pick up the eggs from under the roost - and experiencing these first eggs through his eyes and excitment was just amazing. I let him carry them back to the house and he ran so excited to his mom hugged her and then showed her "his" eggs - just made my day! He has been my chicken helper since he moved in, and we have been looking every day for eggs - and today was our lucky day!

My other question is this my blue cochin girl is a big girl - mostly feathers - but should I make a bigger nesting box for her? or will they all fit in a normal sized nesting box?

 

[Judy]

The first eggs are often called pullet eggs (a pullet is less than a year old) and are usually smaller than what they will lay after a few months of laying. Then the eggs get even bigger after their 1.5 year (or so) molt. Your cochin will probably be fine in a standard nest -- depending what "standard" is, I suppose. If it's 12" tall and wide she should be fine. Sometimes mine get ideas about good places to lay that don't agree with ours. I have two who prefer a small pile of hay in the corner of the coop. I used to have a couple who preferred open top to open front. I just let them have their favorite spot; I figure I'm lucky it's in the coop.