Barley has been getting ready for egg laying for weeks now. Every morning she is very vocal and goes into the right hand little coop and scratches around. Every time I checked she had made a well in the shavings but there was no egg.
Barley and Peaches chatter all the time but it is more of a squeaking sound than the chatter of the other girls. The last two mornings Barley has been shouting which sets off Peaches and sometimes the rest of the girls. I felt she was trying out her egg shout and therefore getting near to laying her first egg.
This afternoon we went out and when we got back I checked all the nest boxes, as I do every day, just in case. In the right hand little coop there was a perfect, tiny, white egg with a little blood streak on it. I knew it was Barley’s because the other girls are all moulting and last year resumed egg laying in February and Peaches hasn’t yet shown any interest in the nest boxes.
I felt so proud of her and so pleased at the thought of having eggs again. We have had no eggs at all since Sparkle stopped laying three weeks ago. Well done Barley!
Barley’s first egg
Barley is six months old (exactly twenty four weeks) so the right age to start laying. It will be interesting to see if she lays another one tomorrow and also how long it will be before Peaches starts laying.
When we first got Peaches and Barley, Peaches was slightly bigger than Barley (which was how I would tell them apart before their combs developed). Once they were fully grown Barley caught up in size but Barleys comb is now bigger than Peaches and she seems to have developed faster.
Barley is on the left and Peaches on the right
Barley has a slightly bigger comb than Peaches and it’s this that makes it easy for me to tell them apart as well as their combs flopping in opposite directions. It’s not so easy to see straight on and is more noticeable from a side angle but I took this photo of them side by side for comparison.
Brown leghorns are supposed to be good egg layers so it will be interesting to see how they do and lovely to have our own eggs again. Well done Barley, you are a proper grown up girl now.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Well done Barley! May there be many more. I expect now you can collect them and make an omelette… They are so clever . Give gat girl a gold star .
It never ceases to be just as exciting. I kept telling her what a clever girl she was and my husband said isn’t that what they are supposed to do. It doesn’t make us any less proud does it!
Great that she’s started to lay in what is the leanest period of the year, in terms of egg production. I’m sure she’ll be a really good layer – none of Topaz’s laying/brooding shenanigans here, and Peaches should not be far behind. Lovely news.
It is great because in two and a half years of chicken keeping, the last three weeks have been our first time with no eggs since egg laying first began. But more than that it’s just always so exciting when a little girl lays for the very first time. Can’t wait to get a few more eggs then sample them.
CUTE!!!! I don’t care how long you have hens. Those first eggs are soooo special.
That is so true. I am waiting for the next one now so that we can have them for breakfast.