We have our first eggs from the chickens.

Mid-August our first egg arrived (the hens were about 16 1/2 weeks old at this point). It was laid on the roost and had a soft shell, so it was broken when I found it. We had one more soft shell roost egg, and then a few days later, I discovered three small greeny blue eggs in a corner of the coop. We ate them for breakfast–and one was a double yolker.

Since then, we’ve consistently had two eggs a day. They’ve been either olive or blue (it’s hard to tell) and small. We’ve had enough for ourselves and shared a few with Grandma and Papa.

On Friday, we had our first full sized egg, which turned out to be another double yolker.

Ellie found some chicken patterned fabric and sewed a cloth to line her egg basket. She collects the eggs every day, as she has anticipated doing since before the chicks arrived.

We’re waiting for everyone to start laying. My research says that most hens start to lay between 18-20 weeks. Today is the start of week 19, so we’re right in that window. We’re also waiting for them to try out the nesting boxes rather than the corner on the floor. We’ve switched the chickens to a layer food and added oyster shell to their diet, so I’m sure that will help move the other ladies along.

You want me to do what?

Every day is exciting to bring in new eggs, count how many there are, assess their colour and size, and eat our super fresh home grown breakfast. Also exciting? For the first time this weekend I didn’t put eggs on my grocery order.

Any other egg fans out there? Have you ever eaten a blue or green egg? Anyone else have experience collecting eggs?