# My first egg!



## pacanis (Dec 27, 2007)

Some of you know I have chickens and some of you know they are my first and that I've been waiting well past the time they should have started laying to get my first egg from my flock of five......

Well, today was the day! I opened their nest box door like I do every morning after I let them into their run and there it was! At exactly 31 weeks old. Later this morning it will be an egg in a frame (basket) with homemade bread. Well, it's exciting stuff for me anyway.


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## buckytom (Dec 27, 2007)

how eggciting! 

(sorry, i was just beating k.t.e. or buck to it. )


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## Bilby (Dec 27, 2007)

It's a lovely egg Pacanis!!  I love eggs and I hope you enjoy your "first"!!


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## Andy M. (Dec 27, 2007)

That's really exciting.  Congratulations!


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## pacanis (Dec 27, 2007)

eggciting? 
Nothing wrong with a _little_ egg humor 

Thanks. It's pretty special for me anyway. Last night I was thinking these have to be the luckiest chickens in the world for the care they get and they don't have to do anything to earn their keep. I was getting tired of everyone asking me if I had eggs yet, too. 
Funny how the little things can brighten up a dreary day.


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## sage™ (Dec 27, 2007)

cool   congrats


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## Fisher's Mom (Dec 27, 2007)

Wow, I'm really impressed, pacanis! And really jealous. I wanna have fresh eggs, too. Now I'm off to find out if I can have chickens inside the city limits.

BTW, Did you take a picture of your egg in a frame? Talk about fresh - just-laid egg in a slice of home made bread!! Way to go!!!


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## pdswife (Dec 27, 2007)

It is exciting!!  We had chickens for awhile and that first egg is 
WONDERFUL!!   Soon you'll have more than you can use.  I hope you have lots of neighbors to share them with.


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## jpmcgrew (Dec 27, 2007)

Fresh eggs right out of the chicken is the best.The yolks will be almost orange plus you can control what they eat making them a better egg.


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## buckytom (Dec 27, 2007)

pacanis said:


> eggciting?
> Nothing wrong with a _little_ egg humor


 

lol, pacanis. i doubt anyone else got that. there's a place in jersey called little egg harbor.


how often will they begin to lay eggs now? do you have to increase calcium, d3, and sunlight exposure now?


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## suziquzie (Dec 27, 2007)

How cool!
I keep debating over getting a couple chickens, our neighbors across the road have a few. 
I'm worried about being over-run with eggs is the problem, but I'm sure I'd have even less luck than you and get only 1 egg a week!


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## Buck (Dec 27, 2007)

Why don't you get them a trampoline so they'll lay scrambled eggs?


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## pacanis (Dec 27, 2007)

The egg in a frame will have to wait until tonight or tomorrow, but heck yeah I'm going to take a pic  For some strange reason I craved MacDonald's today for lunch.....

Someone on the chicken forum lives inside of city limits that don't allow chickens. I think it's all in your neighbors and whether or not the coop is an eye sore or not. And if you have a rooster  Hens are quiet.

I've got them on layer food and there's oyster shell in their grit for Ca. I don't know what d3 is....., but it's a good shell so things must be OK. Plus I supplement with trimmings from making a salad or give them a little "Cone Brade"  The snow has melted and they're sticll scratching around in the dirt for something, but not like in warm weather. Clover is supposed to be real good for yolks.
I'm not going to increase their daylight in the winter because that will burn them out quicker and it's been studied to lead to reproductive cancer. You're still _supposed_ to get 1-3 per week, so I should have plenty for myself and if I want to give any away. If they don't decide to go on strike again.

I can't wait for egg # 2, but you're right....... there's nothing like that first one 

Yeah,,,, a trampoline  Maybe I can get one of those gadgets that scrambles the egg in the shell


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## goodgiver (Dec 27, 2007)

*Your First Egg*

W O W I think thats great and even a brown one at that. They tell me there is no difference between an brown egg and a white egg. Sorry everyone I can tell a difference when I eat them. Do you know how to tell wether your chickens will lay white or brown eggs?  This is no jpke. If your chicken is going to lay white eggs she will have white ears and if she is going to lay brown eggs she will have brown ears.


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## auntdot (Dec 27, 2007)

Would love to have some.  We live out in the country but in a development - no farm animules.  Oh well, maybe next house.


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## pacanis (Dec 27, 2007)

I didn't know that goodgiver. I knew I was going to get brown eggs because that's the two breeds I ordered; Silver Laced Wyandottes and Buff Orpingtons. Dual purpose chickens (meat or eggs) that do well in cold climates. My chicken friends think this egg came from a SL Wyandotte because it has a pointy end, but their first eggs aren't always "perfectly shaped" I'm told.


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## LEFSElover (Dec 27, 2007)

pacanis said:


> Well, today was the day! it's exciting stuff for me anyway.


that's the prettiest egg I've ever seen in my life. congrats 'dad'...


pdswife said:


> Soon you'll have more than you can use. I hope you have lots of neighbors to share them with.


Oh me please, Christmas will be here in record time again and I'd love some for my eggnog 2008


pacanis said:


> their first eggs aren't always "perfectly shaped" I'm told.


 oh you just try giving birth to an eggpointy end or otherwise


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## Fisher's Mom (Dec 27, 2007)

LEFSElover said:


> oh you just try giving birth to an eggpointy end or otherwise


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## Fincher (Dec 27, 2007)

nice!  congrats!  I love farm fresh eggs,


well except when it comes to peeling hard boiled ones.     those are tough!


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## Rom (Dec 27, 2007)

That's really cool!


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## Constance (Dec 27, 2007)

I second what Rom said. That is so cool. 

I've always wanted a few chickens, but DH says absolutely not. I do have friends who have chickens, and once and a while they share some fresh farm eggs with me.


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## Rom (Dec 27, 2007)

Things to with eggs LOL

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f22/can-you-flavor-egg-while-boiling-41429.html#post526263


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## Barbara L (Dec 27, 2007)

How neat that you got your first egg!

As far as white/brown eggs go, it has been our experience that "city folk" will pay more for brown eggs and "country folk" won't pay as much for brown eggs.  

Barbara


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## Rom (Dec 28, 2007)

Barbara L said:


> How neat that you got your first egg!
> 
> As far as white/brown eggs go, it has been our experience that "city folk" will pay more for brown eggs and "country folk" won't pay as much for brown eggs.
> 
> Barbara



Really?? we get both in the same carton i think, i don't  even think i notice which colour it is lol


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## expatgirl (Dec 28, 2007)

Wow--congratulations Pacanis!! I can remember my 2 sisters and I fighting over who was going to have the care of  feeding my Grandmother's chickens and finally she settled it by assigning us certain days---that ended all fighting but she forgot to say what days they were to take baths---the chickens----my sisters and I decided to give one of the hens a bath-----NOT A GREAT IDEA in hindsight------feathers and poop everywhere and the chicken was quite indignant to say the least......the expression on my Grandma's face was memorable....will never forget it.......frozen in time.....


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## pacanis (Dec 28, 2007)

I got another one this morning. So fresh it was still warm. You might say I "interrupted her"  I'm surprised she didn't jump off the nest.

Last night's Egg in a Frame. It just didn't seem right not eating it the same day.







My girls this morning eating their tomatoes. After one of the Buff Orps was done earning her keep


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## buckytom (Dec 28, 2007)

suziquzie said:


> I keep debating over getting a couple chickens, our neighbors across the road have a few.


 
i'm surprised that you don't have some already. chickens are notorious imperialists... 



pacanis, d3 is vitamin d3. birds need vitamin d3 in conjunction with sunlight to be able to properly metabolize calcium in their diet. this is especially important for egg laying females since calcium get depleted from their bodies from the eggshells. if i get a coupla free minutes, i'll search to see if there's any specifications for chickens.


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## *amy* (Dec 28, 2007)

Egg-cellent!    Well done! 

The closest I'll get to hens laying eggs in a big city is...

Live Search Club


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## pacanis (Dec 28, 2007)

Thanks buckytom. I just checked their food and it is added as a supplement, so I guess I'm covered.
The shell was noticeably harder to crack on the side of the fry pan (although it _was_ a small egg), but I'll keep an eye out if they might need more than what their food provides.


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## sparrowgrass (Dec 28, 2007)

I have chickens too.  I love going out to the henhouse on a frosty afternoon, and picking up eggs that are still warm.

I usually do supplement with additional light, and haven't had any health problems with my girls.  

The first eggs are usually smaller than later eggs, and the older the hens get, the bigger the eggs are.  Sometimes mine don't fit in the cartons!

Here is puzzle for you--which end of the egg comes out first--the pointy end or the large end?


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## pacanis (Dec 28, 2007)

Hi Sparrowgrass

The artificial light thing was just something I read. Someone had a link to the studies, but I wasn't interested enough to follow it. Supposedly studies have been done on it and there is a link to increasing "natural" egg poduction and reproductive cancer... which may or may not affect the egg eater, but why take a chance. I guess unless you have a necropsy done you might not ever know what a hen died from, and I certainly am not going to have one done if any of my chickens die   As long as I get enough eggs that I don't need to buy any more, which is a 20 minute drive to the store, I'll be happy. Until they get too old to lay anymore  Then I'll start over.

OK..... I would say logic would dictate the small end comes out first to _ease_ things along....... So probably the large end.

What I want to know is who found out and why did they want to know?
And who first said, "Lets eat the first thing that falls out of this chicken's butt?


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## Fisher's Mom (Dec 28, 2007)

sparrowgrass said:


> I have chickens too.  I love going out to the henhouse on a frosty afternoon, and picking up eggs that are still warm.
> 
> I usually do supplement with additional light, and haven't had any health problems with my girls.
> 
> ...


I'm voting for the big end coming out first - like babies. (But what I really wanna know is how _you_ know the answer, sparrowgrass. I can't imagine hens being cooperative with "observers".)


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## larry_stewart (Dec 28, 2007)

Hi, I got chickens a few years ago.  I have three at the moment.  2 lay brown eggs, and 1 lays a pale blue egg.  *** mentioned earlier, trying to peel the hard boiled eggs is a challenge.  We usually just use them for  omlets, baking .... My brown egg laying chickens usually lay one egg a day, whole the blue egg layer is only every other day.  They seem not to like change.  When i move them from their ' summer house' ( a coop outside ) to their winter house ( a pen in my garage)  they stop laying for a few weeks, the same goes for when i put them back outside again.  During the winter i keep a heat lamp on them, and this additional light does cause them to produce a little more than when they are outside.  WE feed them our left overs.  There favorites are spaghetti and the water mellon rind, oh, and rice too.  The kids fight over who is going to check for eggs each day ( with each other , not with me :P )  And my friends and co workers think its funny when i bring my surplus in to share with everyone.  When we go away, i let the kids across the street take care of them, and they get to keep the eggs.  Anyway, its a great experience.


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## Barbara L (Dec 28, 2007)

pacanis said:


> And who first said, "Lets eat the first thing that falls out of this chicken's butt?


and... "Let's pull those things hanging down on that cow and drink whatever comes out!"

As far as which end comes out first, I think it makes sense that the large end is first.  After getting the most difficult part out, as everything begins to contract, the small end will help shoot it out.  

Wow, never thought I would be having this discussion!  

Barbara


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## sparrowgrass (Dec 29, 2007)

Yep, large end first, just like a baby.

I learned many things about chickens and eggs because I worked for a very brief time as a USDA poultry grader and had to take a test.

But this particular fact I remember,  because I have one of those trivia contest winner brains, full of many odd assorted facts and very little real useful knowledge.


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