First eggs

Our neighbors, Barb, and I have had a lot of fun this year with our four hens that we raised from chicks and it has prompted us to learn a great deal about chickens.  But the payoff always was the eggs.

What would they look like?  Would they be misshapen or fragile with thin shells?  Would they be brown as we had hoped? Which hen would be the first? How soon would they start laying eggs?

Yesterday came the first eggs!  Both smallish (as we had been told they would be) but both with strong shells and a nice brown color.  The only question would be: which hen was responsible?  And since we got two eggs in a 12 hour period, was it two hens that laid the eggs.  More questions. More mysteries.  I can only report that the Buff Orpington (Buffy, as Art likes to call her) was particularly vocal yesterday morning.  I rewarded them with sunflower seeds and adult chicken food. This morning, all of them were up on the roof of their coop or on their roost bar which is five feet off the ground. They are big girls now and we can't wait for the next eggs to arrive.

What a neat Christmas present!