That's right, folks, we finally got the first egg from our little chickies we bought in July. Of the 13 chicks we bought, 9 turned out to be roosters (8 are in the freezer now) and the others were Rhode Island Red pullets. I had done the math and kept telling Hubz that the girls should start laying sometime around Thanksgiving. Well, 8 days afterwards, someone left us a little surprise. We don't know who it was though...
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| Was it Nancy? |
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| Was Millie the gift giver? |
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| Or, was it Pullet yet to be named? |
We're certain it wasn't one of the Silkies we got from my girlfriend. They don't have time to actually lay an egg, they're too busy trying to hatch the wooden ones I placed in the boxes for the Reds. Broody little biddies, they are...
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| Nutmeg |
Whoever laid it sure had her work cut out for her. I'm no expert, but I think it's a pretty good size for a 1st egg. It's not that much smaller than a large egg from the store.
Needless to say, we are pleased as punch! I can't wait to check the coop each day to see if there's another surprise or two waiting for us. Now, if it would only stop raining so I don't have to put on my waders to make it out there each evening.
Good for you. My hens are slowing down up here in Wisconsin. I've only been getting 6 eggs a day - enough to do my Christmas baking...I usually don't get any eggs in Winter - some people keep their hens laying, but I give mine a "break"....Blessings from Wisconsin.
ReplyDeleteYay for the first egg! Nine roosters out of 13 chicks is a bummer. My girls have really slowed down here too, I've actually had to buy eggs!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I can hardly wait for my girls to start laying.
ReplyDeleteYay! This is so exciting!
ReplyDeleteOnce they start to lay, do they lay every day? I have 4 chooks and yesterday we found 2 eggs but none today. Is that usual? Also, I have tried to set up the nesting box with lots of hay but they keep emptying it. The eggs I found were on the floor of the coop.
ReplyDeleteDifferent breeds lay at different frequencies. My parents have black sex links that are about 10 months old and they get an egg from each hen everyday. Mind don't lay everyday. They may go through a period where they'll lay for 3 or 4 days in a row, but they won't lay everyday for a week. I believe I read somewhere that it can take 36 hours for an egg to form inside the hen and, on average, you can get 4-5 eggs per week per hen. If your hens are just now starting to lay, it may take a little time for them to establish a regular schedule. Have you tried putting some wooden eggs or golf balls in the nesting boxes? That helped ours to know where to lay when they were just starting to. Hope some of this helps! Thanks for stopping by.
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