When we got our chickens back in the middle of May, they were about 2 weeks old. Much of what I’ve read said that they start to lay around 20 weeks. Seems to be pretty close – I think they’re 21-22 weeks old now and we just got our first egg.
I went out to say hi to the chickens yesterday after work. I’d been looking once or twice a day – since it seemed imminent based on their age and the redness of their combs and wattles. I openened up the coop to refresh their water and noticed that the shavings in the nest boxes looked quite different. Instead of being flat and level, they were strewn about and nestled down into a little bowl shape… and there in the box I saw our first egg!
I’m not sure which one is responsible… but we’re happy the eggs have started. With 2 barred rocks (4 per week) and a rhode island red and black star (5 per week), we expect to get 18 eggs per week. Probably more than we can use, but I’m sure we’ll find friends and neighbors willing to take care of any overflow. Anybody?
The first one was very tiny. Thought maybe it was a fart egg(scroll down to post #15 for a hilarious little story), but no – it did have a yolk. We cracked it open today. We shared the tiny scrambled egg and it was really good. Very different from store bought.
Since we stored this egg overnight, we put it in an egg container – I said “Put it in point-end down.” And, of course, the next question was “why?” Well, because… that’s what I was taught. But the question lingered and here’s what I found:
Do you have chickens? How long did it take them to get into the full swing of things? We’re anxiously awaiting the next ones.
