The Chicks Have Started Laying!

There's always a wee thrill when you find the first egg from a chicken!  We've been waiting since the beginning of June for the Black Sex Links and the Ameraucanas to start laying.  We had thought they would start laying at the end of September, like the Browns and Leghorns a few years ago.  We had to wait a few weeks longer, but they've started!  Problem is, they don't seem even slightly interested in the nesting boxes in their coop - the first egg was found on top of a straw bale in the barn, in a little depression.  The second and third were found underneath the nesting boxes. The problem is that we've allowed these birds to free-range, so it is possible that they will lay under trees or, well, anywhere.  Added to the list of daily chores: having a little tour around with a flashlight to check under trees and bushes in the areas they tend to frequent!

So far, no little blue or green eggs from the Ameraucanas, just brown eggs from the Sex Links!  I can hardly wait to find a little pastel egg.  And these are definitely the eggs of young hens, which are often called pullets.  The eggs are about half the size of regular eggs, but still perfect and tasty with some of the brightest yolks we've seen.  In the last few days, we've gotten two each day, so that number should go up quickly - if we're finding all the eggs!