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6:40 am
August 30, 2008
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You will have some of the hardier layers lay through winter. Some of the girls who will not mature until November, may hold off till February. But, since chickens have a set number of eggs they will every lay, life long, that winter rest or late start prolongs their egg laying ability.
6:55 am
Yeah, I'm thinking the smaller ones who will be mature in November will then encounter the shorter days. I tried the light on the timer when the older hens were just laying. Believe it or not, they didn't start laying until after my husband told me to turn the light off. Then the little buggers waited a bit then started laying???? I don't think I''m going to do the extra light thing this year. They definitely did better without it. Maybe someone forgot to tell them they needed more light to lay. 
1:55 pm
October 17, 2008
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It's a 4-egger day today — from extra-small up to extra-large! 
All 4 girls are working!
2:22 pm
December 28, 2008
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Oh, goody, Cindy!! 
We're not at all sure that all of ours are laying. The most we have gotten to date in one day is also four, from six girls. But we've had a dozen total so far, with at least one that likes to lay around 2pm and another around 4pm. In their nesting boxes!!
(Must go check right now!)
8:56 pm
Glad to see the chickens are laying CindyP and Pete. Right now my coop is in chaos as I have a broody hen hatching out chicks and for some reason that upsets the other chickens. The older hens (9) layed about 4 eggs today, and the 6 older chicks (3 months) are busy growing bigger. I call them the "teenagers" of the group. I checked today and Mommy Hen had 7 peeps hatched. 2 died in the shell and three eggs are left to hatch yet. We'll see tomorrow how many hatched. I'm a proud Grammy! 
12:23 am
February 8, 2009
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Finally my new ones started..yesterday I had 2 little eggs..and today 4.
Ok not all 19 are working but it is a start.
7:38 am
December 28, 2008
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Yay, HOORAY!!!
The cousins to the north have joined in!
8:00 am
October 17, 2008
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I was just amazed it doesn't really take that long for those extra-small eggs to become extra-large/jumbo! And I know those chickies deserve every little treat I give them….those huge eggs every single day….I would go on strike often!
8:46 am
March 30, 2009
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Yay, for the eggs and new chickies.
We had a tiny egg yesterday. Not sure if it's from one of the young birds getting ready to start laying or what locals call a "witch's" egg. We had one a week ago too, but nothing since so……?
10:10 am
August 6, 2010
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I had something I have never seen before–an egg all full of air. It has a little something in it, I suspect probably yolk, but I haven't cracked it open.
12:30 pm
March 30, 2009
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SarahGrace said:
Yay, for the eggs and new chickies.
We had a tiny egg yesterday. Not sure if it's from one of the young birds getting ready to start laying or what locals call a "witch's" egg. We had one a week ago too, but nothing since so……?
I found out yesterday how to tell the difference between a "witch's egg" and a young bird's first egg. A "witch's egg" will not have any yolk in it, a youn bird's egg will. So says my neighbor.
5:24 pm
February 10, 2009
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Yep! There are other names for 'witch eggs' too, wind eggs, and fart eggs are the first that come to mind, I think because they are considered to be a sort of "Ooops" thing.
Well, the truth is that that can't be because the egg is only covered in calcium (shell) quite a ways up and over a bit of time in the hen's anatamy. Still they're interesting names. I've always saved them and let them dry out and put them in a glass bowl. wierd I know, but I find them and even really small pullet eggs pretty interesting. I gave a selection to a 4H-er so they could make a dislplay for the fair about eggs and chickens. I need to call her to find out if she got a ribbon for it!
I've also heard of shell-less eggs called wind eggs, and there's all sorts of oddball eggs out there.
Chickens are not perfect creatures, they are as prone as we are to odd things! The fun thing is that a hen actually makes the egg/shell/chick over a pretty short period of time, which means that the steps are kind of obvious, not like an animal that takes a year or whatever to produce young. And their eggs are WAY more obvious than ours, but really, the differences are only a surface sort of thing.
11:06 pm
December 28, 2008
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Well, maybe YOURS aren't perfect, but MY girls are perfect in EVERY way!! 
So far…
(Or maybe it's just that we don't know any better??? 
)
12:11 pm
December 28, 2008
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Well, the interesting behavior has definitely started here! At least one somebody, no, make that two somebodies (unless one of the girls is laying smaller, lighter colored eggs today than yesterday!), is becoming non-conformist and laying eggs on the back porch! One large, dark, who-knows-how-old egg and a fresh one this morning laid while I was moving furniture and other treasures around on that porch.
And we finally had one without a shell, laid on the floor of the chicken house. Beside it was an egg that had been pecked. Very curious. Kinda makes me think there might have been something wrong with the second egg. Or somebody just didn't make it up to the nesting box!
This whole process is simply fascinating! Every day they chatter more, and we are beginning to sort out what some of it means, which is what led us to look behind the settee on the porch this morning…
5:48 pm
September 20, 2010
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Went out today to collect the egg's and somebody POOPED all over them! YUCK! I also have had some eggs that had no shell, so I have increased the oyster shell. It seem's that the older the hen gets the bigger the egg. The girls have not been in the mood to lay their seven a day, I have had to give them a good talking to. Last week I thiink it was only about a dozen, and one hen has been laying in the middle of the chicken coop. (Grandmatotwo)
8:37 pm
February 8, 2009
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Well that happens sometimes, they poop on the eggs…thank goodness there is water LOL
8:44 am
March 30, 2009
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We've made some changes within the coop and nest boxes over the last month. We are back up to 6 to 7 eggs a day so our changes have helped. We have nine birds that could be laying. Two of them, our whiteys, lay so far in the bushes we can't get to them. One likes to lay in the soft cat cube on the porch. Four like to lay in the cat carrier under the porch. The rest are back to laying in the coop. We put a board in front of the nests in the coop. They have to go up and over to get in, but they don't seem to mind.
I'm hoping our young birds will start laying soon. I want to freeze some eggs and give some to the neighbors. Thus far we haven't had enough.
We've had birds for a year and I still think it's fun to gather eggs.
9:28 am
December 28, 2008
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The last of our girls just laid an egg!! So, all 6 are laying. The roo is so proud, and so are we!! Maybe now the others will quit picking on this one. With the songfest that is going on right now, they all seem to know that this is a big day for them!
Funny thing – the lightest girls are laying the darkest eggs, and the darkest girls are laying the lightest eggs, with the brown girls laying the medium brown eggs.
Fascinating. (Is this really supposed to be this much fun?? We are having a blast!)
7:19 pm
August 30, 2008
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It's been three years since my first chicks came and I have still not lost my love for chicken wrangling! Congratulations, Pete!
4:00 pm
February 10, 2009
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A good friend sent me this link. It's all about healthy and happy chickens (which we all have) and why keeping chickens or at least supporting someone who does keep them is a good thing!!
http://www.cornucopia.org/2010…..mbled-eggs
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