They say size doesn't matter......

We got our very first egg today! I went to clean out their coop and there it was..........right in the nesting box next to the golf ball. :) They won't be 5 months old till September so I wasn't expecting an egg just yet. I don't know who laid it. I asked the girls if the one who laid the egg would raise their right wing but they weren't talking!! I rewarded them all by throwing in a big broccoli plant from the garden along with some cucumbers and squash. They love treats from the garden.

I know this sounds silly but I took a picture of my egg. It is small. I'm guessing as the hens get older the eggs will get bigger. Is that right? Also, can hens hold back laying eggs if they don't want to lay one? Once they start laying eggs will they lay one every day or just once in a while? Is there anything to feed them to make the eggs bigger?

We went to the farm supply store today and bought more pine shavings, laying mash and some cracked corn. I haven't given them any corn yet. I thought they might like that for something different.

I have soooooooooooo much to learn about chickens and am glad to have this forum. We decided to enclose the last stall in the old barn and make an indoor coop for the girls for winter. I hope it doesn't upset them too much that we're banging and hammering in there. They will be outside in their exercise pen.

Brenda

The first few eggs are called "pullet" eggs and are very small--pretty soon they will size up. Pullets lay more but smaller eggs their first year, fewer but larger ones in the following years.

My first chickens laid sort of okay sized eggs the first year--the second year some of them started laying jumbo...

Congrats on your first egg! They do get bigger in time. Our year old hens are laying good sized eggs now and lay fairly well. Our 3 old hens lay good sized eggs but arn't laying as well anymore. But they are all pets so they stay around. I try to talk them into laying more but they won't listen :)

Some of the jumbo sized eggs I buy at the grocery store have double yolks. How does that happen? Do certain varieities lay them or is it just older hens laying them?

That happened with my eggs too. It can be due to a genetic tendency...or just a slightly out of wack reproductive system. I had one hen that laid these fairly commonly for a while then stopped. I think it is due to two ova being released very close together and then enclosed in a single shell. Sort of like a woman having fraternal twins.

Congratulations Brenda: There is nothin silly about what you are doing, and there's nothing like the first egg either. I think your girls just proved to you they are not political right wingers. LoL Some breeds are much better layers than some. So the breed does make a difference. You just strike me as one who's going to have a blast learning about her flock. They are lucky to have you. Good luck: Haystack

When my golden comet turned five months old they stared laying and some of them were double yokers,they are they are 15 months old now and I never get a double yoker now.I don`t know about holding back eggs does anyone else?I have some EE`S and can`t wait for the colored eggs,are they late layers or should I expect them to start at 5 months as the golden comet will?Anyone?

My golden comets were born April 18 so they will be 4 months old on the 19th. I'm eager to go out this morning to see if they left me another egg.

I just hope all the banging we'll be doing out there working on their winter coop won't scare them to death. We have one of those electric nailers that is real loud. I wish we had got it all done before we got the chickens. OH well. I'll just treat them with a head of cabbage from the garden. That will keep them busy. They sure love their vegetables.

Oh, I saw a mouse (EEEK) running alongside the barn yesterday and he disappeared into their run. Will the chickens kill him and eat him? Our friend's outdoor cat has kittens and he keeps trying to give me one. Hubby wants a barn cat but I'm not excited about it. I would worry about the cat being outside and something getting it. Also it would be lonely so if I got one, I'd have to get two. They sure are cute. Do you HAVE to have a cat to keep down the rodents or will the chickens take care of them?

Haystack, you are funny. Love the joke about the "right winters". ha ha ha

Green, I hope my golden comets start laying double yolkers. That would be great. They are such quiet birds. In fact all my birds are very quiet. You'd never know they were out there.

Do any of you feed your chickens a little cracked corn? If so, at what age and how much.

Brenda

Some chickens do eat mice when they can catch them. I don't know if they would be as good at it as barn cats.

I do feed my chickens scratch which can be either cracked corn or a mix of cracked corn and other grains (which is better for them). They love scratch, but it is more of a treat since it is very high in calories and lower in nutrients than their regular mash/pellets. You can start by the time they are a couple months old if they are getting grit. My chickens also like crimped oats--though not quite as much.

Oh Congratulations Loon! What a happy day! No, it is NOT silly, it's cause for celebration! First egg is so exciting.. in fact, every egg is a thrill if you look at it that way. I do! That is a beautiful egg. Just perfect!
Thank you for sharing... a wonderful way to start my day. :)



Don't you just wanna give her a squeeze?

My EE's just started giving me eggs.. they are 3.5 months old. So idk.. my chickens are always weird.. all of mine have started at 3 to 4 months laying eggs. :)

I loved it when i got double yolks from my RIR's. The eggs were always huge.

I photograph every "new" egg i get!

I give mine corn on the cob, freshly cooked then cooled for them for the last couple weeks with these new chicks.. every other day.. (they are.. 7 weeks? 8 weeks?) the others i started on corn chops when they went out with the big chickens at about 3 months. Its so much fun to watch them roll the corn cob across the porch trying to eat it.

congrats Loo, one of my first eggs from Billys girls was the size of a malted milk ball... I thought it was cute.
now his 4 girls are giving us 3 to 4 eggs a day, with my two girls that gives us 5 to 6 eggs a day.... Got a deal with my sister to buy a few dozen a month to help pay for the feed.

WOW, I've never seen an egg the size of a malted milk ball. :) Sounds like you have a good deal worked out with your sister.

Today I turned them out to free range. I sat on the pole barn porch in the shade. It's so hot today. Two of the chickens came right up to me and hung around my chair. They would cluck at me and try to talk (I think). I would have tried to pet them but I was afraid I'd scare them off. It is fun to watch them. I just noticed today they have toenails. I don't know why I was surprised. :) Some combs on the heads are different sizes. I have one white chicken. Other than her I can't tell the others apart much. Maybe in time I will.

What is an EE?

EASTER EGGER

Which means that it lays colored eggs...maybe blue, green or pinkish. The gene for blue eggs came from Araucanas--which are difficult to work with in some ways. So breeder worked to introduce the gene into a new breed they called Ameraucanas---but the gene also now occurs in birds that do not meet the breed standard for Ameraucanas and those are called Easter Eggers. Too often what the hatcheries call Ameraucanas or even Araucanas are actually Easter Eggers. But EE can also be Ameraucanas that do not meet the breed standard because they are the wrong colour. I think EE tend to look like a separate breed and they all seem to behave similarly....but people like to keep the distinction. They are usually really nice birds that lay beautiful eggs.

http://www.ameraucana.org/faq.html

Billys are EE and they lay 3 different shades of Green ranging from light green to dark green and one lays a blue... He loves them, that is all that matters. His Roo Spiderman is pretty

Thanks for explaining what the EE stands for. Sounds like some pretty eggs for sure.

We got a second egg today and it was bigger than the first one we got. I still don't know who laid it because nobody was sitting on it. :) They are smart though. They laid it twice in the same spot...........right next to the golf ball where I showed them I wanted my eggs to go. :)

We are almost done with the indoor run in the old barn for winter. We are putting in a second doggy door so they will have their choice of staying inside or going to the outside exercise yard. I'll be glad when it's done. I have a feeling we're going to have an early winter and a hard one.

Oh that looks just like the egg Alice laid yesterday. I should take a picture of it too. I was so thrilled, I didn't expect any eggs til Sept or Oct. She's not quite 4 months old yet. Tiny but perfect. Boy it's fun having chickens. Congratulations.

It is fun isn't it? We've gotten one egg every single day now. I know which one is laying. It's one of the golden comets. She has little to no comb on top of her head so I can tell which one she is. She sure "talks" a lot when we take her egg away. :)

The indoor chicken room is done. It's completely enclosed and we run electricity to the stall so there is an overhead light in there. We put about a half foot of hay all around on the floor and their coop is in there with a gang plank going up to it. We have it set up on cement blocks. We have an old wood ladder in there for them to roost on. It should be nice and cozy for winter. They can stay inside the barn or go outside to the fenced in run. Their choice.

My little granddaughter will be here this weekend and I plan to let her see where eggs come from. That should be fun. She's 3.

Just wait for when she asks.. Does it hurt the chicken? Is that why she cries when she lays the egg? I nearly died when J asked that. He was 4 i think.

Well, I think that's a very good question to ask. I'm not sure I'd know the answer. :)

He actually asked my mom so i got to stand off to the side giggling.. while she's trying to come up with an answer..

So, what did she tell him?

that she wasn't sure & she guessed it didn't hurt that they were only proud of thier eggs wanting to tell the world. Then he promptly asked why there was blood.. bc when your bleeding it hurts.. so it must hurt then, he was sure of it.. and he walked off. My RIR's laid eggs with blood on them all the time. Not had one with these chickens. He was so serious, it was so cute.

Oh dear. I didn't know they lay eggs with blood either. I guess that would upset me too. Maybe the eggs I've been getting don't hurt so bad because so far they're small. I better study up so I have the right answers to give to my granddaughter. :)

hi all
my 6 laying hen
lay every day
i get 6 1 day then 4 then 5 then 6
so i do not know who doing what
i talk to my hen
when they not doing well
i tell them chicken soup
elle

LOL Elle,

I don't think I could ever eat my chickens now. I have no idea what I'll do with them when they get old and stop laying eggs. Maybe run an old folks home for poultry. :)

LOL Loon...

hi all
i am with you
it is sunny
and i got to go to work today
elle

Do the double yolk eggs ever hatch into twin chickens if fertilized and incubated?

hi
it not likly
there not enought room for two chicken in the egg
elle

Someone on the forum tried to hatch a double yolk--they didn't quite make it and research showed they rarely do--like elle says, there is not enough room.

Do your hens get territorial after they start to lay eggs?

I have a dozen hens. Only one is laying eggs every day. We've discovered that she won't let any of the other hens inside the hen house at night. She runs them off from the entrance hole. They're sleeping outside in the fenced in exercise pen. Today she tried to run off my husband and granddaughter when they were putting more perches on the inside pen. She's very "verbal" about it too. She'd run at them and squawk.

What do you do to make her not be so dominant over the other hens and allow them inside their house?

hi
i would take her out of the pen
put her in her own pen
then put her back
about 4 day
elle

hi
our chicken share nest
there can be two at a time in the nest box
elle

Mine only get territorial after they've went broody then they let only the silkie sleep in the edge of the nesting box with them. No one else is allowed. They let them in the coop tho.

Mine sleep 4 to 5 in a nesting box. I guess they like to be cozy.

Well, after my husband put a bunch of new perches inside the inside coop she's letting the others in. Now she hangs out with one other hen inside the nesting box area of the little coop inside the indoor coop. I think the other hen is interested in starting to lay eggs and she's teacher her how to do it. :) We left one egg in there today in hopes she'll be less upset. We also replaced the bulb in there with a low watt red bulb. Maybe it will calm her down. She was better today and just talking and not squawking. :)