Healthy First Eggs

[BlueSkiesGirl]

Hey everyone! I hope you all are doing well, my three Wyandotte's started laying a couple of days ago and I have a few questions about what I should be expecting of my first few eggs:
What does a healthy egg look like?
How can I support my chicken nutritionally (what foods, vitamins, etc....)?
How do I store/wash my fresh eggs?
How do I know which hens are laying, and which aren't?

Thanks for the help, Have a great day!
-Sophie

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Lots of questions, not sure what you mean by a healthy egg, but a good egg will be fresh free from poop without cracks and fairly normal looking and feeling.

The best way to keep your chickens healthy is to feed them a balanced ration, provide grit and oyster shells on the side, fresh clean water and different fresh vegetables and access to some free range, for rations, I like an all flock for adults and grower for anything under laying age. Otherwise a layer is great if you don't add too many extra stuff.

There's all kinds of opinions on egg cleaning and storage, I like to wash mine under hot water and refrigerate, I would check out some of the forums for other people's thoughts.

Hens that are laying will have bright red and enlarged comb and wattles as well as the space between her pubic bones will increase and her vent will be puffier. The easiest way is to see them in the nest laying an egg. Those that aren't laying will have duller combs that are smaller and more pink.

 

[Spartan22]

Hey everyone! I hope you all are doing well, my three Wyandotte's started laying a couple of days ago and I have a few questions about what I should be expecting of my first few eggs:
What does a healthy egg look like?
How can I support my chicken nutritionally (what foods, vitamins, etc....)?
How do I store/wash my fresh eggs?
How do I know which hens are laying, and which aren't?

Thanks for the help, Have a great day!
-Sophie

Hope these helps:

1. Healthy eggs should have strong shells ( doesn't break easy). But as new layers they normally starts w/ small eggs, sometime soft (no shells). But after few weeks they get the hang of it.

2. Nutrition wise, they should be on layer feeds by now to support their protein and calcium needs (best to offer crushed oyster shell on the side) whatever feed you choose make sure it has at least 16% protein or higher. And lots of fresh clean water. I use organic feed on mine with extra omega.

3. On washing or not washing eggs, it's a personal decision. For us we don't wash our eggs and we store them in a basket on our counter since we consume them within 2 weeks. Unless the eggs are soiled (w poop or mud) we wash them immediately with warm water (Warmer than the egg temp not hot) and refrigerate them to be used first.

On your last q, I'm not sure if I can help much but to know if they are laying the pelvic bones distance should be wider than 2 fingers. Pretty much red combs, and they squat when you approach them(proof of sexual maturity)
For us it's easy to tell who lays what because of the egg colors and the type of hens we got.