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Your First Egg - Signs your hen will lay!

Hey everyone!

So, today was the day my Rhode Island Red laid her first egg:) I am really excited that we will be finally getting fresh organic eggs right from our backyard! For me and my family our very first egg is going to go to the Lord. As lots of you know I teach my kids to tithe from our garden and this egg is no different. It is our first fruits (so to speak) and that is for The Lord.

Not everyone has to do it this way or even agree with me but this is what I do:) Lets get started...



I wanted to post about things that I noticed leading up to my Red laying so that it will give some of you "newcomers to chickens" a little insight on what to look for just before your chickens are about to lay there very first egg. I will also be touching on signs others have noticed so that you guys will know what to look for!








For the past 4 weeks or so I have been noticing little changes that ended up being big ones over all. One of those things would be the comb on your chicken turning bright red!


I didn't think too much about this until I found an egg. The other thing I noticed was that she seemed to be pooping on her feathers a little. It seemed a little sloppy to me but I just figured she made a mistake. I ended up finding out later that it was because her vent was stretching out and leaking moisture because she was getting ready to lay her 1st egg. I also noticed her walking around the yard and in certain areas she would squat down in front of the other hen I have. I don't know why I didn't think of it before but she was squatting down so that my other hen can mount her. I remember thinking she was just squatting down close to the dirt so she can take a dust bath but she never did. She also started squatting over concrete! She can't take a dust bath over concrete;) Duh!!

Lets take a look at a short list and see if these match up with things that may be happening with your new little laying chicken.

THINGS I NOTICED
  • Comb turned really red.
  • She was getting louder.
  • More territorial.
  • Not as clean around the vent. (Where eggs & poop come out)


OTHER THINGS TO LOOK FOR
  • Interest in nesting.
  • Squatting so a rooster can mount her.
  • Vent is pink and moist.
  • Hip bone spread.

When your hen hits 5 to 6 months old, be sure to watch her comb. That starts turning red first. They also start squatting down like they are trying to nestle an egg.


I hope this information helps all of you! If you see anything I've missed please post below so others can know what to look for:)

Like always God Bless!



12 comments:

  1. I have four Red Star pullets due to lay any time now. I've only ever bought laying hens before, so this is the first time I've had to wait. And I'm going to be DARN excited when I see that first brown egg! (My laying hens are all white Leghorns.) Thanks for the "warning signs." :)

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    1. How exciting!! You are very welcome:) Please join us on facebook to keep us up to date with there progress!

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  2. Great blog- I am on your FB page-but first time at the blog :)

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    1. Well, I'm happy to have you here as well!! I made this blog because I want to organize all of our cool post that we have on our page so that we can always look for it and find it easily here.

      More categorized here:)

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    2. we got 15 chicks and expect our first eggs in Aug. We,too, tithe and want to give the first fruits to the Lord...so what do we do with the eggs? Give them to the Pastor?

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    3. If you have enough, I would give them to people in the church on a bible study night or give them to your neighbors:) Ask The Lord where He wants you to tithe.

      If you only have like one, my family will just pray over our garden and give thanks. Then we will crack the egg right into the soil The Lord made!

      God looks at the heart so He knows why:)

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  3. do you use hay or straw in the nest boxes? I thought you said hay.

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    1. I had backyard hens reach full maturity to lay eggs (then after surviving winter they were attacked killed by a weasel one night) We now have five new chicks, indoors, and growing!
      I was schooled by my best friend's fiance, who happened to be a farmer. He shook his head when I said we had hay for our hens. I asked what that was about and he said "Oh you city folk - hay is for eating, straw is for sleeping. Straw also keeps much much longer in the cold months and wet months, it is less expensive and the hens didn't really eat the hay - so it rotted into messy mush, only to be buried in our garden.
      So ... I now use straw! Hope that helps! :)

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  4. Got our first egg today! I heard one of my hens making a repetitive loud noise; not like being mounted. Went out to check on her and BAM! EGG! :-)

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  5. Thank you for the great information. I have 60 layers and only getting 40 egg. Yes I also use straw for nesting. If you have information on how to cull out the non layers please let me know ... HELP. I also use sand and gravel in the outside chicken run. Thank you , love the idea of tithe by putting the first egg back into God's soil.

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  6. Hello, so a couple months ago, I got a new flock of chickens. I’m not really a beginner. I’ve had roosters before, but never hens. Anyways, my chickens will be laying eggs soon. So, I was wondering if I should put curtains on the nesting boxes. Do you have them? If yes, let me know! If you don’t, is there a reason? Well, thx for reading this!

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