One of our hens FINALLY started laying - one of our AustraWhite girls. I was starting to get worried. We don't check the inside of their coop more than a couple of times a week, mostly just to check their big food trough. They are out from the morning when we open the coop, to dusk when the rooster shoos them all in for the night. The entire day they're roaming around our property eating bugs, seeds 'n grass to their little clucking delights! So, one night I opened the their coop to do a head-count, and WOWIE! 2 eggs sitting neatly on the floor bedding. The next day, nothing. She changed where she wanted to lay her eggs. I guess that's one of the downsides of having pastured, free-range hens. For over a week I looked and looked, only to find her hunkered down in the cow's manger, of all places. 8 eggs in her little straw nest! All of them were still good (there's a simple way of checking them that involves the egg, a cup of water and seeing whether it floats/doesn't float). She lays one egg a day and man...they are delicious! I feel rich eating these eggs. The yolks are so golden that it's almost a burnt golden orange color, instead of the supermarket yellow yolks. Definitely worth the wait! Now we're just waiting on our other hens to start laying! I saw one of the black star hens staking out a nest box today, so I'm thinkin' she's getting ready to start laying any day now. We really need all of them to get started on the laying...we go through A LOT of eggs here in our house. At least 3-6 a day. Come on girls, momma wants a quiche!
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