I finally got my first egg!!

Hi all,

I was feeding some treats to the chickens yesterday when I noticed an egg on the floor in the middle of the run. It seemed so perfect, maybe a little on the small side. It was from one of my 2 maran hens which were hatched on 5th May.

So this got me wondering, is it likely they have laid others that are less perfect but gobbled them up before I got to them? How can I encourage them to lay in the coop? As its their first year laying will they lay throughout the winter?

Thanks

Thanks Beano. I thought they may not due to the cold but I guess their young hormones being very active push them through that barrier. If the chickens and cockerals are doing the "business" is it worth me incubatiing any of the eggs? Im trying to get the number up in my flock so I can sell extra eggs to neighbours and villagers who keep stopping and asking for eggs.

Congratulations on your first egg.  My Welsummer bantams were hatched in April and are still not laying.  Think they will wait until the Spring now.

It is not a good time of the year to be incubating eggs with the cold weather.  If you wait until Spring one of your hens might go broody and save you the cost of using a heat lamp.   

Congrats on your first egg! Yes, they should carry on laying through their first winter now that they have started. 

Their egg laying will be quite hit and miss until their hormones have settled down.