The First Egg

Big news around the homestead! The first egg arrived this week!

About a month ago, I switched our feathered friends from "grower" feed to "layer" feed and installed a dish of crushed oyster shells for extra calcium (all from our local feed store). Then Nick and I put an addition on the coop - a nest box with two cozy compartments and a hinged roof for easy egg-gathering. (We've also put up some of the cedar-shake siding, but there's more to go - if winter holds off a little longer, we might finish it.)

With all the preparations made, it was just a matter of awaiting our golden-yolked reward. When we went off to California for ten days at the end of October (more on that later), it seemed likely that our wonderful dog-sitting, chicken-sitting, house-sitting friend would be the lucky recipient of the first egg. But no - we returned to a still eggless flock.

I had less than 24 hours back in Traverse City before departing on a work trip to Washington, D.C., and - can you believe it? - when I peeked into the coop on my one morning home in a 14-day stretch, there was an egg!

All that time raising the chicks, documenting their growing-up, building the coop, and acclimating the canine sibling has paid off. And they even waited for me!

For the record, chicken eggs start out small. Here's a side-by-side comparison with a regular-sized, store-bought egg.

The chickens themselves, meanwhile, are big now. Here you can see their grown-up faces.

For those still keeping track, this is (left to right) Penny, Pippi, Petunia, and Polly.

We don't know which one to thank for these first eggs, although it's probably not Pippi since hers should be blue-green in color. Any of the others could be producing these cute little light-brown ones. I'd put my money on Penny, but I don't really know. Whomever it is, she's already on a clockwork schedule. One egg each morning, without fail. By the end of the week, I was back home and we had enough for an omelet.

Real eggs! Amazing! I'm sure the novelty will wear off after the first few dozen.

I forgot to take a picture of the omelet before we ate it, but it was good, I assure you.

(Amended the next morning to add: It IS Penny! Nick spotted her in the nest box, and a few minutes later I collected a still-warm egg.)