OUR FIRST EGG!!!

Yahoo!! We had our first egg today. We don't know "who" laid the egg, but it is beautiful!! Not small, like I expected. Looks like it could have come in the carton I put it in!! My husband found it this afternoon!! I hope I find the next one!

Now, for those who are waiting....we got our girls in mid-late June. They were supposedly a week old when we got them. So.....??? If that gives you a bit of a time line. I'm figuring they are between 19-20 weeks old. We have a Rhode Island Red, two Golden Comets and 2 Barred Rock.

We also have an injured (bald) RIR who is separated. I just got my Rooster Booster No Pick Lotion in the mail. Supposed to prevent cannibalism. It doesn't work instantly, as after I put it on, one of my golden comets went right after her. Poor thing. She is so scared now. Anyway, I have a call into the company to see what is what. Maybe I am doing something wrong or expecting an instant fix. Still separating her.

Anyway.....yahoo for the egg!!

Teresa

An eggcellent eggsample! Great picture! Congratulations!!!

It is a beauty! Looks like my RIR's. Not that that means anything......:0)

Actually, it might. My un-injured RIR does look the most "mature". ???? I need a hidden camera in my coop :)

Congratulations on the first egg. I looks beautiful!

Sheila

Wow! Picture Perfect! I'm happy for you! Congratulations!

Congrats Teresa! I know how eggciting that can be! I still grin ever time I get an egg.

To tell who it is, see if one of them squats in front of you when you approach. That'll be your girl.

LL - Really???? Hmmmmm......we had noticed that two of them have been doing that lately.....they squat right down when we pet them.

Hmmmm....so it must be one of the golden comets. Interesting...thanks for the tip.

Teresa

Yep, its their way of saying they are ready to mate or, in this case, are developing little eggs. :) Lacey started squatting one day before she started laying and continues to. I approach the other girls hoping one of them will squat soon! ~:-D

We got another one today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just as beautiful (and clean!) as the first one!! Yahoo!!!

Still celebrating with you! We collected 6 before we had the heart to do anything with them. And I know I'm in good company when I admit that DH blew them all out and plans to do a show box to display them. I'm thinking the 1st of each of our three girls. He's thinking a series of the first 4 or so for each of our girls... we'll see. :)

Uh oh.....well, my husband went to close up the girls for the night....he opened one door to have all but one greet him. That one was "puffed up" he says, in the nesting box. He closed the door, went around to the run side and peeked in the window, only to see her pecking at her egg - throw it to the ground and eat it with another girl. Yikes!! So.......I know I read about this some time ago, but it was before it applied to me, so I am hard pressed to remember the advice.
If anyone has any, I'd love to hear it.
:(
We must have more than one laying, because we got our second egg some time after 8am this morning, and this last incident happened about 8pm tonight.

Suggestions??

LL -we are (almost) as ridiculous as you - no plans for a show box of eggs yet :) ....it's like Christmas when we find an egg.....my (nearly) 15 year old son thinks we are bananas....

:)

I read the advice too, something about blowing an egg out and filling it with mustard...

Ahhh, that sounds familiar. Or hot sauce, or something. That's right. We'll see how it goes today, but I may need to do that. Thanks for the reminder. :)

Another thing I've read in several places is that the darker the egg laying boxes, the less likely they are to eat their eggs. If they lay in a dark place and can't really see the egg, they are less likely to be interested by it. Perhaps you have a way of making your egg laying area darker?

Well, we used our first 5 eggs today to make french toast. To our surprise, 3 of the 5 had little double yokes......???? Interesting.....

very interesting... mind if I highjack your thread for a moment...

anyone have any experience with speckled eggs? is this something that the younger ones do when they first start laying or is it something that particular breeds do?

I ask because Lacey's first three or four eggs were really speckled and then they evened out in color to a nice smooth brown. Now there are speckled eggs in the box again and Talula is squatting -- a little, not nearly as prominent as Lacey. The number of eggs hasn't changed, so I'm just wondering if the speckled eggs are an indication that Talula is laying and I don't know it or ....

This message was edited Oct 26, 2008 1:19 PM

Interestingly enough....we had one speckled egg. It was brown with freckles almost.....only one so far....????? Not one of the double yoked, however...

My red girls (either red star or golden comet or one of the other red sex linked breeds) lay brown eggs that are, on occasion, speckled, and sometimes not. No real rhyme or reason. Go figure. I like the speckled ones though!

I think some birds, especially the ones that lay darker eggs, do consistantly lay speckled ones--but I also think they may be more speckledy when they first start laying. My Marans lays speckled ones occasionally, but the Welsummer laid them more when she first started and then she seemed to even out.

I like speckled eggs. Does anyone know if there is a prejudice against them among consumers?

I think they are cute as can be and they probably taste just the same. There are probably some that want them as store-bought-blah looking as possible.

Thanks for the thoughts. I think that its still just Lacey laying then. I was expecting a lighter brown from the sussex anyway.

I give the thread back to Teresa.

++++Bows++++

:)

No need, I was just sharing my eggcitement with everyone here....and also giving those who are still waiting for their first egg some hope!! :)

I think my girls started laying a bit early (by all accounts I've read here). I think having lights on for them to extend the day may be a big help....as suggested by the DG following!! A guy who works with my husband got his chickens at least a month before us, and he has no eggs yet. (He has no lights either, that's why I think it may have something to do with it!)

I found a 2nd egg yesterday. well sorta, all I found was a broken shell and it was a small white egg. not to sure who laid it yet. I do know it is NOT the cochins.

luvs - hopefully you'll find a whole egg tomorrow! As I posted earlier in this thread, we had an egg "incident" as well. It only happened once, so.....keep your fingers crossed.

Today my husband found 2 eggs in the same nesting box. ?? They seem to like one over the other two...

?

As long as they are happy and laying, I'm fine :)

no "extra" egg today, not sure which breed it was from tho, I have a silver laced phoenix, leghorn, polish that would lay white eggs and by the size I would say it is a small to med egg. So who knows. In a few weeks i should have alot of pullets laying as they are 14-17 weeks old now, So many I wont be able to keep up with who laid what. Dang I just hate that :). Question, should I start giving them laying pellets now, they do get some but I guess should I up it. They get oats, corn, scratch (only way I can get millo right now) and sunflower seeds, all they can eat of this, and about 4 coffee cans(5 lb) of laying pellets to about 250+ birds.

HOLY COW - 250+ birds??? Wow!! I have 6 :)

The lady at the feed store suggested I start on the layer pellet or crumble at 16 weeks. She said it depended on the size of the bird regarding crumble or pellet. Since I have RIR, Barred Rock and Golden Comets, she said the pellet would be fine, as they are a bigger bird.

But......this is also the lady who told me not to "spoil" my girls with cracked corn. They also get leftover fruits and veggies when available as well as oats. But, their primary food is the pellets.

Anyone else want to add their two cents?

Luvs-

Yes start them on layer crumbles or pellets now. They will need the extra calcium from them to help in shell development.

Sheila

kewl I thought so, I did yesterday. I will have one of the large feeders with crumbies.

Well I am giving corn for a little extra help in keeping them warm? Is that wrong?

And I am feeding the out of a 1 lb coffee can lol. They get about 4 lbs of of layer crumbie.

why won't any of my girls eat cracked corn?

Only some of mine will.

Yes, according to the lady at the feed store, cracked corn is good for winter months to keep them warm. Mine act like it's Christmas when I give them some!! :) They love it! I think that's what she meant by spoiling them!! I don't give it all the time..it is a treat, of sorts.

I give my bantams during the cold winter months scratch grains which is cracked corn and wheat.
It helps them to generate heat i feed regular feed in the morning and the scratch grains in the evening so they go to bed with a full crop.............. And mama always told me don't go to bed with a full stomach LOL!

It is confirmed, My silver laced phoenix finally laid an egg. Remember the broken one, well I found another today. Only reason I think it is hers she was up in the nest, but still a possibility that the leghorn are starting. This egg is a little bit bigger than a cochin egg and is tinted white. The SLP is a poor layer or so hendersons site says, so if I get more this week it would probably be the leghorn.