my first egg , yipee

[serenity]

Got my first egg . Was so excited I almost layed one myself.

I bought 3 chickens, a cock and 2 hens, back in september at 12 weeks old. Unfortunately in november someone broke into the shed where they are kept and we lost 1 hen. All the family have fallen in love with the little darlings, despite not having a single egg in five months but at the end of the day they were bought to suply us with fresh organic eggs and I was getting a little despondant.
decided that I needed to boost their numbers so Thursday brought 3 new arivals, a light sussex, a RIR and to the amusement of all, a little black pollish. I wasn't expecting anything for a while as thought the change of circumstances might put them back but when I got home from work on Friday I went down to check they were getting on ok together and THERE IT WAS. At first thought OH had put it there as a joke but no, no lion markings. Ran straight to the kitchen and got out the frying pan. Oh heaven, lovely yellow yolk, didn't spread all over the pan like the shop bought ones which are probably weeks old, and tasted like heaven

Am going to cook them up a nice mash this morning as reward. Wonder if I'll have another!!

[Poledragon]

Ooh, how exciting I can't wait for my first egg.

[Crazy Chickie]

Isn't it great when they start laying. You feel just sooo proud (well I do). I like to try and identify who's eggs are who's and this year am keeping a 'Chicken Diary' of egg laying, worming/treatments and weather along with the garden diary. So far I've been very good n remembered to do it every day.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Well done S! You must be well chuffed! DDL

[sanman]

We have four hens and a breeding pair of call ducks. The hens have been laying a while now (lovely blue or pink eggs) and we now average three a day. Our call duck has just started laying now too, as the weather warms up I hoping they'll settle down and raise a clutch of ducklings. The eggs from the chickens are absolutely fantastic and my boys love going and collecting them; however the duck eggs are something very very special.

[Sunbeam]

Fantastic news! They do taste better than anything you can buy in the shops... make sure you say thank you to them!

[Earthbabe]

How exciting. You must be so chuffed!

[Nicos]

Fingers crossed for today then!

[serenity]

Had another egg yesterday but OH had collected AND eaten it whilst I was out buying wood to make the new nesting boxes.

[Brookfield Growers]

We know how you feel. We bought 6 hens in september (2 ISA's 2 Light Sussex and 2 New Hampshier Reds) and the breader told us the ISA's would lay within 2 weeks and the pure breeds about 2 weeks after that. The birds were obviously alot younger that we were lead to believe and although 1 ISA layed the very next week,and has layed one everyday since, the rest didnt start to lay until late december. but the joy of finding 2 then 3 then 4 eggs each day was great. I have now cancelled my egg order as we have 5 or 6 most days! Good luck with the increased production!

[serenity]

thankyou BG. Still really chuffed about it. We have been getting an egg a day so far and can't tell for sure who the eggs are coming from altho OH thinks it's the polish as the egg he got had black feathers stuck to it. I think they might be a little large to be hers as I thought polish were a bantam breed so would lay small eggs.

[Crazy Chickie]

Hi Serenity, these sites might help you work out who's laying.

http://www.roosterbooster.co.uk/egg_colours.html

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenders...ks/chooks.html

Also hens often make a loud "cLuuck, cluk, cluk, cluk" noise just after they've laid, and sometimes cackle before laying.

Happy chooking
CC

[serenity]

thankyou CG that was very helpful. MUST be the RIR laying then as the eggs have been quite a dark brown. The polish eggs will be small and white and the light sussex will be a light brown. Thanks so much.

[maggieaggie]

hi... i just found this forum by being refered to the seed swap threads as we are starting a new garden and i dont really have the budget for lots of fresh packs of seeds... and then i stumbled into here!! we got 8 point of lay hens (bovan goldline) about 4 weeks ago and got our first egg just yesterday!! like you serenity, it was straight into the frying pan.
we too were getting dissillusioned with the wait, and are frustrated that the other 7 hens dont seem to interested but hey... the eggs have been gorgeous so they get some respite.
If anyone can tell me a bit more about the two weird eggs we got about 4 days ago (so the day before the real egg) it was like a water balloon, and about the size of a tea bag. if youve ever put an egg in vinegar, it was similar to that. very weird! will they all lay one or two eggs like that before they produce the real ones?

[shirlthegirl43]

Hello and welcome to the Vine maggieaggie.

We used to get the occasional egg 'without a shell' when we kept chickens years ago. My mum used to say it was because the hens didn't have enough grit in their diet. Not sure if that is true or if it is a stress-related thing. I am sure there will be more experienced chook-keepers along shortly to give you the proper explanation though.

And, of course, good luck with the gardening.