My chickens laid their first egg!

You're not going to believe this! No egg for anyone, as my toddler grabbed it in the fridge and dropped it!! The cats enjoyed it, so it wasn't entirely wasted, and I shall look on the positive side and say that at least that prevented arguments.

Oh no! Sounds like something that would happen in my house.

And there was me thinking that it could only happen there LoL

I can certainly understand the logic of not letting the kids fight over it! If you keep a rooster, all eggs are potentially fertilized. But unless the chicken is broody and remains sitting on them, then they won't develop a baby chicken inside. Unless she is broody, they walk away as soon as the egg is laid. You don't have to wash your home produced eggs in any particular way. Just make sure the surface is clean in the same way you would any other egg, so that any bacteria don't touch the part you want to eat as you break it. This egg is actually perfectly clean. It would only be mucky if it had been left in dirty conditions.

Okay, so you're saying it doesn't really matter if the egg is fertilized or not? That some of the eggs we eat could have been fertilized? Pardon my curiosity if I sound like an idiot for not knowing these things.... as I said in the other discussion, I was raised a city girl. We don't have too many farmers around here, and the ones that we do have are too busy mass producing to get chatty with anyone.

If you've been buying your eggs from a commercial producers, it's pretty unlikely that they'd keep roosters along side the chickens. However, you're right. If the egg has been taken from the chicken right away, you'd not notice the difference between a fertilized and an unfertilized egg. The baby chicken requires continued warmth to develop inside the egg. I hope this isn't putting you off eggs?

Lolz,so the cats got it? That's great!! Well, don't worry GreenMoo, chickens never disappoint you. Mine used to lay an egg per day when they reached that egg laying stage. So you will have lots of eggs soon. Plenty to eat, and plenty for your little one to play with too. Cheers and happy mylotting

I am sorry to report that the egg is no more, so we don't need to fight amoungst the family. Sadly, my littlest grabbed it out of the fridge and dropped it However, the cats enjoyed it, so it must have been good! I wait now with bated breath for more ....

Very diplomatic indeed, I think you missed your vocation! I'm out there peering into the run every 20 minutes now, awaiting it's successor! I'm wondering what's to stop free range chickens from laying anywhere they fancy though, so anyone fancy a game of hunt the egg?

I wish I'd thought of the idea of preserving the egg shell before my youngest dropped it and broke both the shell and the egg itself

I'm hoping you're right about it being the first of many!

i dunno how many chickens youve got.. but we had about a half dozen of em when i was a kid.. and we yeilded prolly 4-5 dozen per WEEK. needless to say we ate tons of eggs all the time LOL luck with yer farming!

I hope so too and try not to worry . I think everything will work out and the outcome will be wonderful for you and the family . Good job this time around

I am so excited!! I can't wait until we start getting a regular supply. My chickens were young when I bought them, but are now maturing so I hope it will not be too long.

I do like the cake idea, but unforunately it's not going to happen. My toddler grabbed it out of the fridge and dropped it! The cats enjoyed it though, so I guess it was good!

Unfortunately, the probably will - because they like to scratch around in loose dirt and also like to eat the fresh leaves from the garden vegetables. They can also get pretty messy if you give them the run of the yard (lots of chicken poop!) I have a small fenced in area on one side of the shed that I keep mine in and they can scratch all they want in there without hurting anything. We just used some chicken wire and a couple of steel fence posts and then nailed the wire to the side of the shed. We cut a small hole in the side of the shed where they can go in and out and we can prop the cut out piece back against the whole if we want to keep them in. In the winter when the days get shorter, we put a light on a timer in their shed so that they still have the same amount of hours of light - this will help them keep laying through the winter. We live in ND, so we also put a heat lamp over their nesting area in the coldest part of the winter to keep the eggs from freezing.

I've been keeping an eye on them whilst they're out in the garden, and although they're making their egg laying noises, they don't seem to be laying out there. I guess they are still young and egg laying is erratic. I have a splid brick built chicken house, with a greenhouse run attached which I let them into during the day. Then when I'm home, I let them into the garden.

I've been worrying today about them laying out in the garden as they free range. You sound like you know your chickens! Do you think they're likely to?

Unfortunately my youngest broke our one and only egg before any of us got a chance to try it! Never mind, I'm hoping there will be more to follow soon. Chickens are quite messy, but you can lessen that by allowing them to free range.

I agree. Chickens are easy to care for, particularly if you are able to allow them to free range. I love mine, they are so much fun.

I'm so proud of my girls, and I'm hoping that the others join in with the egg laying soon.

Well my hubby also built the house, so I suppose he ought to have it really. However, it's no longer an issue as my little one smashed it last night when he dropped it out of the fridge!

The cats enjoyed it, so it wasn't entirely wasted!

Oh, what a shame! (Don't tell the hens, and hopefully they'll oblige again soon!)

Round where I live you can buy either eaters or layers! I did ask at the market when I bought them, but the woman just gave me this weird look! the big hens are all one sort, and the little ones are I think 4 different. It'll be interesting to see how they turn out. I'm glad to say I've had another two eggs since the first one got smashed, so I WILL get to taste home grown egg soon!

Please let me know what COLOR eggs you get. OK? We have Auricana, or now because of the bird flu scare Americaunas. Then are called "Easter egg" chickens because they lay the most beautiful green/blue eggs you have ever seen! I guess the auricana chickens come from south america. So they cross breeded with an american chicken.

My eggs are a very pale brown. I'd love some of the blue coloured ones. They're beautiful, like duck eggs.

Fingers crossed it was the first of many. Unfortunately my son dropped it out of the fridge and broke it, so I'm going to eat the next one quicker!

So sorry to hear you child dropped it out of the fridge. I'm glad the kitties enjoyed it though. There should be plenty more to come soon. Good Luck.

My little one dropped it out fo the fridge last night, so we no longer need to worry about who gets to eat it!!

I can't answer that one I'm afraid, asI bought my chickens at market and the lady was really vague about their age. I did ask, but she looked at me as if I was asking what colour underwear they preferred so I guessed that was enough ignorant chicken questions for one day! Good luck with your chicks. I got some younger birds too when I bought mine and you can really see them grow. It's lovely to watch.