Who else is waiting for that first egg?

[Chick-e-poo]

We ordered 6 started pullets 3 buff orpingtons & 3 comets. They arrived last week & should be between 16-20 weeks

Can't wait for eggs!

 

[Strangecacti]

Waiting...18-19 week old RIR's, ISA Browns, and Black Australorps. A few weeks ago my son found 2 beautiful brown eggs...and since then: Nothing. Pretty sure someone played a little joke on me! lol but it has made my anticipation worse!

 

[ccrane11]

Last year my RIR's started laying when they were 21 weeks old.

 

[Strangecacti]

Lol! Posted a few minutes ago, went to barn and was checking food, water, and of course for eggs. Got two! Little bitty brown eggs!

I put the store bought egg for comparison, neither of the eggs was in a box, one was on a window ledge and another under the nesting boxes.

 

[LeiaLayers5]

These two are our young EEs and they should be less than a month away from laying hopefully and we cannot wait! They are waiting for us to finish new giant coop so that they can have a large run to run about in and interact with their other flock members. We have had to keep them seperate til they got bigger due to size and the other ladies being bullies. By the time the new setup is done we are hoping they get hash it out and get past that.

 

[mamabug1]

This is our first set of chickens. Honestly we aren't really sure what all we have! We kind of got a couple off the top shelf, a couple off the middle shelf and a couple off the bottom shelf. We started with 10 the day before Easter and only lost 1! Not bad for first timers. The one we lost was a little yellowish one and I really have though from the beginning it was bird flu! So excited for our first eggs!!

 

[Kylea0219]

Yay what cute little eggs! I am still waiting. More and more of my little girls have developed very red combs and wattles. Hopefully in the next couple weeks some body will lay an egg.

 

[Dmad]

I've got a couple of EE's. They are about 5 1/2 months old. No eggs yet!

 

[JessicaThistle]

I am not sure how to unbroody a hen because I don't have any eggs yet. But I watched this video the other day

. That might help.

I am also waiting for a group of pullets to lay. I own an egg business and my group consists of 300, 16 week old Sexlinks. I have more egg orders than eggs so I am on edge and every red comb and wattle is getting me excited.

Now, onto breaking a broody. I apologize if someone else shared this info as I did not read all pages of the thread. On the first page or two, I saw lots of new people here, so this is I hope, going to be very helpful for all of you! I have only found one way to break a broody. I admit that I have not tried dunking in water. I wouldn't want someone to do that to me. Continually taking a broody out of the nest does not work. They run straight back in after getting a drink of water.

I have a large wire dog crate. As soon as I spot a broody, she goes in the dog crate. It should be raised up a bit or have a roost so that air can get to her tummy. She stays in the crate for 3 days/nights. The first night, I leave the light on all night. Basically when you walk up to the crate and she no longer puffs up at you and hollers, she is most likely broke. At that point, I let her out and keep an eye on her for the day. She should not go into the nest at all that day. If she does, she goes back into the crate for another night. Most of my hens break within 3 days but I have a particularly stubborn Buff Orpington that has taken 4 days.

Remember that broodiness is catching. So if you have one and ignore her, the possibility of having additional broodies is real. I recently had to break 4 of my hens because I missed the first one for a day!

 

[JESSLYNNA]

Oh my goodness! I am from Bridport, Vermont. About an hour from you VTMAPLECHICKEN!

This is my first experience as well. I have 2 RIR, 3 Buffs, 1 BR and 1 GLW. I am worried about our Vermont weather as well!! Mine are about 6 weeks! I lost 1 of my RIR's last week. My local farmer (also my boyfriend) just had a broody hen which produced 11 new chicks which he gave to me. I think I will be selling them as my coop 8X4 is not big enough for all of them! Otherwise I would probably keep them!