Imagine my surprise when I found a real egg in with the fake one I used to see the nest box. It is a small brown egg, just perfectly shaped some speckles. I am so proud!. Not sure which of the 3 laid it as they are about the same age, size, comb and wattles. They are 24 weeks 2 days old.
Congratulations!
Happy Egg Day to your chicken (whichever one it was). Always an exciting day! I always love the speckled ones!
I remember my first egg I was just as excited as you!!
I have never been able to figure out which is the most exciting, the first egg, or the first hatched chicken? Congrats!!! Will it be eaten or framed?
Thanks all.
Haystack, my granddaughter will eat it (and others, if any) for breakfast on Friday. There's no school Friday or Monday so she is spending the long weekend with us. Eggs are her favorite food. She'll eat 3-4 scrambled for breakfast any day you let her, along with bacon and hashbrowns... She's almost 12 and an eating machine right now.
Got another egg today. Still no clue as to which one is laying. My son wants me to buy a wireless webcam (too expensive!) Anyway, this brings up a question. The new egg is about the same size, but has no speckles. Can this be another girl laying? Do ones that lay speckled eggs, always lay speckles?
Congrats Becky!
I wish mine would pickup production
BB
Have the kids keep an eye out on friday! they'll find the lucky hen.
congratulations.. my DW can identify the mom by the speckles and bumps.
It never gets old.
-joe-
Generally speaking, I have found that speckled layers always lay speckled eggs. The degree of speckled-ness might vary, or the size of speckles, but I would not expect the two eggs you showed to have come from the same hen. There should have at least been a little speckling on the second one.
Unless the first one was just dirty. Hahaha! (I know it wasn't, just kiddin' ya!)
Good to know... So 2 of the three have started laying. WhooHoo! We'll see what happens tomorrow. They both laid in the same nest box. I guess they will be waiting in line for that one even though there are 3 others.
They will probably all use the same box.. I was surprised to find mine waiting in line like it's the only porta potty at the fair. .. they seemed to have worked out a schedule, yours probably will too.
now you will be needing egg dish recipes..
-joe-
Or an incubator {evil grin}....
Congratulations! I remember how thrilled I was with my first egg. I've found that when the hen lays an egg she cackles really loud so maybe you can keep your ears tuned and catch the mom.
Enjoy those eggs. They're the best.
Hi catmad, I have an incubator but no roosters! So these eggs will all be eaten. I am planning on hatching some more chicks next year, probably Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers. Some of my family want the blue/green eggs.
No egg today, so I'll have to watch and listen to them tomorrow. Thanks Loon.
Becky
That statement about the same nest, made me laugh Joe. But your so right, I have a picture of three girls waiting and squawking for one girl to leave so they could take their turn. Even though there was seven other empty nests. Go figure, but thats what makes them so darn funny. Hay
Oh Congrats Beclu!!! I just got my first two last Thursday. I have Four Buffs and three RIR's, They are the same age as your girls. The eggs are being laid in the same nest also and every other day! So Since Thursday I have found six eggs, Yay!
Now my Question is this> Is it normal to get eggs every other day or should they be laying every day?
Eufaula, that is so great. Are they all the same size egg, or are some bigger than others since you have 2 breeds? The 2 that are laying seem to lay every other day also. Still don't know who the slacker is. Won't be listening for the egg song in all this rain today. I hear Buffs are quite vocal about egg laying. Have you heard them?
Well you have to remember that the girls are just getting used to all of this, and they are fine tunning their bodies for production, so no slackers here, just getting a tune-up. Have fun, even as I know you are. Hay
Oh My, Are they Vocal!!!!! Last week I thought I had a predator in the chicken yard! My girls were all cackling and "Bawking" ! When I went out to check out the noise I found everyone just fine but noisey. When I went inside the compound one of the Buffs assumed the "position" at my feet.... Hmmmmm....... so I kinda guessed that it wouldnt be long before eggies made an appearance.
On this note...... My Gentleman Buff and so called King of the Hen House, the same age as my girls, has just started to crow. He has not ,However, begun to understand his job!! Now after nearly a week of egg laying by at least two of the girls, I have noticed "position" assuming by two of the Buff hens in front of "Jimmy", but there is NO response from him or any interest at all! So when will he become old enough to carry out his duties?
Im sorry I failed to answer your Question Beclu. My eggs are quite different. One is very brown and rounded, a beautiful egg, smaller than I thought it should be but quite nice for a first timer. The second egg is a bit smaller and tan in color its shape is more long and narrow at one end. I am going to assume that one is a BO egg and the other a RIR egg, but which is which ....Who Knows! We are having the rain also so I cant listen or get to them early enough to catch the newbies!
I hope when I get home from work today that there will be at least another "new" egg added to the count.
Both eggs from the first day had a little Newbie blood on them, so I imagine that it will be easy to figure out the next "new"egg!
I'll have photos this afternoon too!
Got my 5th egg today. Another brown one. I'm thinking that they are all laying now, just not every other day. Probably more like every 3rd day. All small pullet size eggs, but haven't see the newbie blood on any of them. I can't hear them, but my son said one of them was bawking the other day. He couldn't see which one though.
Photos please Eufaula.
SO after reading this thread since its conception it just occured to me.. and I find it quite amusing..
Why do you "wrap" your eggs in a tissue? Are you worried they will get dirty? Are you concerned they might crack when you set them down?
So I goggle a little:
Dirty??? hello they just came out of a chickens butt!!
Crack??? hello they just fell to the floor!!
Just joshin you here.. but I have been chuckling in my own little world this morning thinking about your tissues.
Hi Frans. They aren't wrapped in a tissue. I put a paper napkin in the bottom of the basket because the egg didn't show up when it was just sitting on the brown. Too close to the same color. Must showcase the egg you know! LOL
Not worried about dirt either. The eggs have been very clean so far.
This morning when I fed them scratch, Emily squatted down. So she must be one of the layers. The other 2 were too busy eating...
My hens come up to me and squat all the time. I thought it was some kind of "submission" behavior. I always lean over and stroke their feathers or pat them on the head. Am I "reading" them wrong?
Brenda
my hens tend to get a stable stance - squat and dip their head a little when they are looking for a pat on the head... some of mine love it - they know who runs the roost and I think they like to be social.
I suspect either they are very lovey dovey - and you probably hand feed them treats often.. either way - they do love you if they come up to you to say hi!
mine love grapes, corn, and golfish (the crackers)
what kind of treats do you give yours?
-joe-
I have never hand fed a treat to them. They do get lots of scraps from the kitchen out in their pen though. I might try to hand feed them something. I only have dog food treats here. :) They do dip their head down like you said though. I was sitting on a bench pruning my roses and they would walk under my legs and get under the rose bush and peck. It was like they were trying to help me. :) They would "talk" to me the whole time. They tend to follow me or my husband around when we're outside. I was driving the lawn tractor and had the whole bunch running behind me flapping their wings. It would have made a funny video. :) We only have hends. No roosters. Today we picked up 11 eggs from 12 hens so far. They seem very happy.
Brenda
I believe it is a both a submission pose & a way to, as you say stablize themselves so they don't fall over.. in football I believe this is the 3-point position..
Brenda, I finally did get a video of the chickens chaising me on the tractor.. they are SOO funny.. if you go slow they do slow down and eat the bugs you are stirring up.. but they think the bugs are coming from the mower.. so the faster you go, the faster they run!
SOO FUNNY TO WATCH..
This message was edited Oct 13, 2009 11:51 AM
i wonder if we could get them to play football.... they do like rugby - when you throw a grape into the center and they all go for it and even steal it from each other if they can't get it down quick enough...
really.. get some grapes... they will love them - especially if you cut them in half.. sounds like loon has some pretty special birds.
-joe-
no doubt.. loon, cook em up a batch of ramen noodles.. that-ell get a good game of noodlebowl going. lol
we need a chicken olympics thread.
noodlebowl sounds pretty funny,,,
so who got the first egg? did your grand daughter make you an omelette?
I am pretty sure I have some ramen noodles in the pantry and we grow our own grapes. They've been in the grapes helping themselves. :) They also eat the apples that fall on the ground. They are pretty good at finding food. Good thing I have my veggie garden surrounded by an 8 foot cyclone fence. Keeps the deer out.
Brenda
you have some happy chickens... mine ran me out of strawberries...
congratulations again, they will love the snow too..
I'm still collecting. Will make an omelet when I reach 6. Ours love figs. We have a tree that we keep picking and drying, but there are usually some left. The chickens fight over them. I'll have to try grapes. See if they play ball with them. DGD would have fits if I fed them HER ramen. LOL
Oh My How Funny some of these posts are!!! We are all definitely unique people! If you tried to explain to a NON-Chicken person that we are genuinely interested in why a chicken squats at one time and not at another , or if an egg has bumps or not..... Well .. Only Real Chicken people could understand!
Im sorry that I didnt get my photos on yesterday... but I have to get new batteries for the camera, and then out to the chicken yard I go! Talk to you later this afternoon Chicken Buddies!!!! E.
Okay heres my eggies! Im so proud of my hens! If you look real close you can actually see three different colors and sizes! So Im wondering if I have two laying or three. I really didnt think I would find an egg today , because it is an "off" day ....but.............
Here is my find for today...YaaaaaaaY!!
OK...........here is a picture of the three largest of the 11 eggs we got from our dozen hens today. The one is huge and fills up your palm. Hard to tell from the pic without a reference I guess. The big ones are double yolkers.
Beautiful eggs Eufaula and Loon. You might have 3 layers there Eufaula. Different sizes and shapes. I love those dark brown ones.
Loon, What breeds do you have? Sounds like they are very good layers.
I'm very impatient, no eggs today. Poor girls wondered why I kept opening the nest box door. Hopefully there'll be one tomorrow.
My hens are 25 weeks old. I have 6 Golden Comets. I have 5 Rhode Island Reds and my free hen was a Light Brahma.
The Golden Comets were the first to lay. One started laying at 16 weeks. That big white Brahma was one of the last to start laying but she's sweet and very pretty. They are good layers. So far anyway. :)
