It was an exciting morning at our house today. Lisa did something pretty thrilling: She laid her very first real egg! That's it at the top of the post, as you may have guessed.
Lisa has been working on laying a real egg for a few days now. On Saturday, she laid a soft-shelled egg. Or, I should say I think that's what happened. Dakota and I went out for a fancy dinner that night, so we missed the actual event. But, on Sunday morning, I found some evidence of a soft shelled egg in the coop. Specifically, there was something that looked almost like part of a snake egg--white and soft--plus half of a yolky soft egg-shaped thing on the floor of the run. I was actually pretty surprised to see it, since Lisa is only 18 weeks old. But, I guess she's just precocious. I found something similar in the run on Monday evening.
This was all very exciting, at least for me, and I have been trying to make sure that Lisa is getting enough calcium in her diet, to help firm up the egg shell. I ended up baking some clean shells from some store-bought eggs in the oven for 30 mins on 250, as suggested on the BackyardChickens forums. Then I crumbled them up and gave them to Lisa, hoping she'd eat a few. It's tough to tell if she went for them.
I looked around and didn't see anything of note when I let the chickens out of the coop in this morning. But, Lisa did head back into the coop after a short visit to the feeder. Dakota put a snazzy new nest box on the coop on Sunday, and Lisa is a big fan, so I thought she might just want to sit in it a bit more.
Then, just as I was packing my lunch for work, Dakota called up to me from the yard with some exciting news: Lisa laid an egg AND she laid it in the nest box. (Apparently, many people have a hard time convincing their chickens to lay in the nest box, but I guess our Lisa is a chicken genius.) Of course, I immediately rushed down to the coop to see, and there it was. An egg!
It's a bit on the small side, and the shell is thin at both ends, but it's definitely a real egg. Dakota and I admired it for a while, and then popped it in the fridge. I haven't cracked it yet. Maybe we will tomorrow morning.
We couldn't be prouder of Lisa. Hopefully she'll keep up the good work. Now if I could just convince Jackie to get healthy!
Wow, exciting! My girls are just 13 weeks now, so I have a little while left to wait. I'd better get busy building that nest box, though.
In the last few years when I have been longing for chickens, I mostly believed I wanted the fresh eggs. While I still do want fresh eggs, I have found just being around the chickens every day would be enough. They are just so darn much fun!
Congratulations! And happy omelettes!
About the eggplants: Yes, they are a warm weather plant. Which is good, since the Japanese variety are especially good on the grill. Just split lengthwise, lightly brush with olive oil and salt and grill. Excellent with anything.
i love chickens