I've got EGGS!!

So the chickens started laying eggs, hooray!  We were getting one white one a day then hubby caught a white leghorn laying so we figured out who was first!  Then a couple days ago I found the cutest tiny egg, I think bantam egg!  Then voila the next day I found my first brown one!  Now looking for the green/blue ones from the Easter eggers! 

 how exciting!!!!!.....congrats!!  

we are hoping to have our first few hen's   by next spring  cant wait!

hugs
rose

Yay Cheyenne and getting so many different colors will be and are fun!  Home grown eggs are the best tasting!  There is nothing better than to start getting eggs!  I was surprised at how quickly my chickens went from small eggs to almost extra large.  One time a dog we had got hold of a chicken.  She lived but the egg she laid which she was just forming was a lot smaller and a funny shape.  I will have to find that picture and post it sometime.  Sounds like an omelet celebration time to me!

Another garden/farm success!   

GG

That's funny Tricia, I would love to see the picture of the funny shaped egg!

Congratulations!
There is nothing better than fresh eggs......

Terrific!  I'm glad they are finally laying.  Each hen will lay a specific color.

Here's some blue and green eggs from some Aracunas (Easter Eggers).  Some Easter Eggers will even lay pink ones.

Here's a whole dozen.   Easter Eggers don't usually lay as many eggs as other breeds but they're fun.  The eggs taste the same and look the same inside.

Congrats! That's exciting...I want some chickens and seeing your post makes me want them more!!! I really need to find out if I can have them where we are...city and HOA.

Quiltbea those are nice looking eggs, love the colors!

How many chickens do you have and how many eggs do you average per day? What breeds do you like best for good laying hens?

Oh, I so wish we could have chickens but they're not allowed in our "city"
As a kid, we had Rhode Island Reds - excellent egg layers

Congrats, Cheyanne!  Aren't they just he tastiest eggs ever!

Quiltbea, do you find that the Americanas live long and produce well in the winters?  We have been surprised by how long lived and winter hardy they are.  I think they are the most consistant layers year round and for many years of all the breeds we have raised.  Wyandottes are second in that, but the Americanas do not take out time for going broody.

To clarify, I don't have chickens myself.  I got my colored eggs from a local homesteader.  I just love the colors.
I wanted to get some chicks a few years back but my son wouldn't allow it.  He loves his lawn and the thought of chickens was too much for him.  The same when I suggested a few ducks for eggs.  No homesteading here.  I built the in-law apt after I lost my darling husband so my son rules the land.  I'm lucky he approved the raised beds in the far back yard and even helped me prep the whole shebang even to putting together the beds.  Then it was another job to get approval to plant a few dwarf fruits trees along the long driveway.
To those with their own chickens and/or ducks, I envy you.

Cheyanne here is a picture of a dozen of our chickens eggs.  We had four Rhode Island Reds.  As you can see the small one got interrupted in the growing process, probably from one of my dogs bothering her.  I looked through my pictures and cannot find the misshapen one for some reason.  I was sure I got a picture of it.  I ended up spending hours and hours looking at pictures hiding in different places on my computer yesterday, lol.  If I ever find it, I will post it.



My first winter with my chickens I kept a heat lamp that was clear or white light bulb and the chickens did not stop laying.  The second winter when I finally was able to get my heat lamp back from a daughter who had borrowed it, I had a colored bulb and the girls barely, if ever, laid eggs.  Something to keep in mind.  They were much more winter hardy than I thought they would be.  They would go out and walk in the snow without any problem and actually seemed to enjoy it.

Turan how long do Americanas live?  I have one chicken left and was thinking of getting more.

Quiltbea, that is not fun you are not able to have your chickens!  No matter what, if that is your home and your yard, you should be able to have what you want!  But that is just my opinion which I try not to give so freely, lol.  I'm sure it's nice he takes care of the yard but . . .  That is one thing I have given some thought to myself about my grown children moving in with me.  I guess I will have to do some compromising also.

Judy we were not able to have chickens in our city but a lot of people voiced their opinion and then we were able to have them.

Triciasgarden wrote:Turan how long do Americanas live?  I have one chicken left and was thinking of getting more.

The oldest was the rooster who lived to 14yo. We are having a hard time being really accurate on the age of the various hens, ie what is average versus the longest living most memorable. We think they lay for about 8-9 years and then live till 10. The other breeds hens die out in the 8-10 year range and stop laying after 5-6 years. I think. We have not kept accurate records in a while. I wonder if ROoster has better records on this. What is your experience with the Rhodies?

Quiltbea, too bad your son doesn't share your love of homesteading. Glad he helped you put in a garden area and gave in to some fruit trees. I'm sure he is a blessing to you and good to have someone close when you need them. But it can be sad/frustrating to end up feeling like a kid with the children you raised parenting you. lol...not looking forward to that myself. I had to shake my head and laugh when my husband's son wouldn't let him hold our new grandbaby until he sat down. We were like ummmm and who raised you...I think I've held a baby before and know not to drop him. Kids....they forget who raised them and still think mom and dad don't know anything.

Off topic so.... to get back on track it's nice that you have a homesteader close by to get such pretty eggs from.

Judy my uncle raised Rhode Island Reds and gave us some one time. Funny though we never collected the eggs from them. My dad turned them loose on our property and it wasn't long til the woods was full of them. We started with 6 hens and a rooster and at last count we had over 60. I even hand raised one of the chicks that got abandoned. Turned out to be a rooster and I had so much fun raising him. I could walk out in the yard full of chickens and call him and he would come running and fly up and land on my shoulder...loved him. I even taught him how to dig for worms.

Turan I will definitely have to research the Americaunas and Wyandottes if I do get to have chickens. Year round fresh eggs a definite plus. Thanks!
P.S. Googled them quickly...the Wyandottes are beautiful...and who can resist the colorful eggs so both are definitely on my wish list.

Tricia nice eggs. Love the little one lol. And great tip on the heat lamp. Good to know. Thanks!

tricia....Thanks for commiserating with me but its my son's home, not mine.  I was living in a beach condo when my DH passed and far from any relatives.  My son and wonderful Dau in law thought it best if I lived with them, but separate, so I'd have my privacy.  I agreed, so I built my in-law apt in their daylight basement in the country many miles away, nearly ten years ago now.
It works out fine for all of us, except for the livestock.  Now that I'm getting older, I'm glad I don't have chickens and ducks at this point in my life.  I'm having enuf trouble handling my raised beds as time and age take their toll.

But I enjoy reading about others that have their livestock.

How many chickens do you have and how many eggs do you average gathering per day?

I thought I had read that Rhode Island Reds live 3-4 years.  Three of mine died this year, which was 3-1/2 years.  My last one is still going strong.

Here is a great article you may want to read if you haven't already.  It talks about eggs.  http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/interesting-facts-about-chicken-eggs

There really is nothing like those first eggs.   
I still want to announce it each time  - and I've had a few flocks now, over 5 years.

Don't mind me, but I'm a stickler for correct names and spelling. The pure breeds' names  are Araucana and  Ameraucana.  They both have the blue egg gene, and meet certain poultry standards  But if your chicks didn't come from a breeder (like from a hatchery or your local store's "Chick Days", as most of mine have) then you probably have a mixed breed, a.k.a. "Easter Egger" -- oftentimes still sold as an Ameraucana, or even "Americana", which isn't a breed name, just a mistake - or a trick.

http://www.ameraucana.org  
Perhaps 99 percent of chickens sold as Araucanas (or Ameraucanas) by commercial hatcheries are actually mongrels (aka Easter Egg chickens), meeting the requirements of neither breed."

 (I still don't have any real blue-egg layers, myself, but have had a few EE's, even one roo, which certainly didn't lay those blue eggs I was assured of. [He was re-homed to someone looking for a roo.])

Tricia, that is a great article on eggs. Thanks for the link.

Nicola, thanks that is good to know and I will definitely remember that when I shop for my chicks one day...hopefully. Now to contact the city and find out what they have to say.

Tricia, I enjoyed the article and I don't even plan to have chickens!

In my experience hatchery chicks labeled as a particular breed  perform like that breed description.  There is not the attention to detail that a show breeder must follow.  When my daughter was in 4H doing a chicken project we all went to the feed store and evaluated the chicks for health and for how close to standard the chicks would grow up to.  That last being a bit of a crap shoot at that age.  The lady leading this was an Ameraucana breeder, a true font of knowledge on all things chicken.  She told my daughter to start with the hatchery chicks, and then next year she would sell us some eggs to hatch under our Mama Wyandotte.  My daughter decided the show thing was too traumatic for her pet hens being in a pen and strangers staring at them.......

It is kind of strange that the Ameraucana breed club does not want their name used on anything but pure bred.  Do the other breed clubs insist we not call our hatchery Rhode Island chicks that but some other made up name because they do not have papers? The Rhode Island Reds probably have a greater need in differentiation because there is a whole line of commercial RIR layers that has lost the dual purpose qualities of the old heritage breed of RIR.

Anyrate.   My chicks come from Strombergs.
"The Ameraucana is a pea comb, clean legged variety that originated in the U.S. Good disposition, non-agressive & very cold hardy. Production quality, not for use in 4-H showing as they are bred for production of those popular blue and green eggs, not breed traits. "
 They preform as described.  If I want a start in show birds they have a separate section for that. Show Quality Chickens
" The breeds listed in this section have been selected for their exhibition qualities. We hope you are pleased with them, but we cannot guarantee any show winners. Please note - breeding birds for appearance may result in the bird not being as efficient in producing meat or eggs."
So you see they recognize these differences and yet feel qualified to call the production chicks Ameraucana instead of a totally different name of Easter Egg layers.

I am writing all this because I do not want people to feel they can not trust the hatcheries to sell them useable chicks that fit the labels within the larger range of accuracy than a show breeder uses.

Thanks, Turan.  I neither breed nor show my chickens, so it ultimately shouldn't matter which ones I have. I'm just more precise with language, I guess (I'm also one who cringes seeing misspelled words in newspapers or official notices from the Board of Ed.)
But I'm glad to get off my high horse and appreciate that you took the time to explain the policies of a quality hatchery, especially since many here --esp. newbies-- are more  likely looking for pets and eggs to eat, than show birds and eggs to hatch.  (I just want real BLUE eggs some day!)  

Nicola wrote:  (I just want real BLUE eggs some day!)  

Me too.  Just for the fun of it.  Some of my hens over the years have been close.  The breeder I referenced to before specialized in really BLUE[/b] eggs but it was expensive for a whim.....

Jeesh, this Araucana breed thing is really confusing as you look further into it.  It seems to have to do with how breeders deal with the Araucana gene that when doubled causes chick mortality and then the resulting breeders club political wranglings.      By the way the presence of that gene means that Araucanas have never been able to be bred to be truly homogeneous, they have to be out crossed to keep that gene from doubling.

I better go have a green egg omelet with tomatoes for lunch and get the laundry started

we had chickens years ago that laid blue eggs! I guess we just got lucky?? They also laid green ones