We've got eggs!!! and - Updated pictures of "the girls"!

[NancyB22000]

Hi all -

Our Buff Orpington, "Cathleen" has just started laying eggs! I had thought she was getting close, so I put some hay in with the shavings in the nesting boxes recently. I saw that someone was rearranging the hay, so I put a golf ball in each of the nesting boxes just last weekend. I checked inside the nesting boxes Thursday morning (nothing), then checked again this morning - and I found an egg!!!!!! I knew she hadn't just laid it, since it wasn't warm, but didn't know exactly when. Later, maybe around 1pm, I checked the nesting boxes again - another egg!!!! The girls were resting on the roost in the coop, so I opened the clean out door to pop my head in and say hi, and I found yet another egg, this time in the main part of the coop!!

I think she laid the one in the coop 1st, maybe on Wednesday, then she laid the 2nd one in the nesting box on Thursday (the one I found this morning), and then the 3rd one in the same place in the nesting box sometime between 7:30 this morning and 1:00 this afternoon! 3 perfect little eggs! It's a bit silly how happy this makes me feel!

Here is a picture of the eggs:


And here is a picture of Cathleen:


I'm so proud of her!!!

Here are the rest of "the girls" :

"Clara"


"Collette"


and, finally, "Cluck" (brown one) and "CJ" (black one)



I need to practice getting better chicken pictures!

We are having so much fun with the girls! The kids love to have them eat sunflower seeds out of their hands, and my son can even pick them up sometimes - when he is quiet and patient enough (an amazing feat for an active 9 year old boy, lol!). My daughter (10 going on 15, hah!) isn't quiet or patient enough most of the time, but it gives us a good chance to work on those qualities.

Thanks for letting me share - my friends (who don't own chickens) just don't "get" how special this is!!

NancyB

 

[Choco Maran]

Congrats. I agree people with no chickens or pets just do not know what they are missing.

 

[Brookside7]

Congratulations on the eggs! Pretty girls, by the way. I remember how excited I was when my girls first started laying. I was so proud! All of the people around me who don't have chickens found it amusing. They just didn't understand how nice it was to see those first eggs. They'd tease me about whether or not I'd gotten any more eggs and then the same people eventually turned into the ones that are always asking if I have a dozen fresh eggs to spare.

 

[NancyB22000]

Thanks everyone! And . . . to update the update, we have another hen laying! It took me a while to figure out if we had a 2nd girl leaving us presents - Cathleen, who was the 1st to lay, had a couple of "off" days (I think), and then a couple of eggs showed up in a pretty short time of one another. Finally, on Friday I found "Cluck" in the nesting box, looking a bit pre-occupied. I would love to have stayed and watched, but I had to get ready to go out for a bit. I went in the house to get ready, then came out for one last check before I left. Cluck was just standing up in the nesting box, and there was a very warm egg where she had been sitting!

Since then, we've had 2 eggs in the same nesting box each day! One of the reasons I was a bit puzzled is I thought Cluck was and EE/cross and was going to lay greenish eggs, but hers are a pretty light tan color. Just a bit dififerent than Cathleen's, which are almost pink! I didn't take pictures of Cluck's eggs, but here's a picture of Cluck:


I'm seeing some changes in the combs of my other 3, so I don't think it will be too long before we have lots & lots of eggs!!!!

I love finding the eggs each day . . . kind of like finding special little presents!

NancyB