Step right up and place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. We’re making book on the date of our first egg.
Now taking bribes ...
Just to keep it above board, I will disclose everything we know about the chickens – which amounts to precious little. We have four Rhode Island Reds and four Buff Orpingtons, and they were all hatched within a day or two of May 1 of this year. They’ve been raised on a diet of greens, bugs, and chicken feed (first the kind for chicks, then the grower feed), and they all seem healthy and happy.
We’ve filled their nest boxes with straw, and we will start checking them daily in a couple weeks, which would be the absolute earliest we could, in our wildest dreams, hope to find an egg. (I’m hoping that, once we start getting eggs, I will have wild dreams that don’t involve chickens.)
So, pick a date and leave it in the comments and, assuming my technical skills are up to it, I’ll make a little calendar with the chosen dates noted.
Whoever picks the date closest to Egg Day gets a dozen newly laid brown eggs. If the winner lives locally, I’ll even deliver them. If the winner is from afar (and, thanks to the excellent folks at The Cottage Smallholder, I boast an international readership), those eggs are going to be a great reason to vacation on Cape Cod.
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9/20 eggs….yum!
9/24/09
Side bet anyone? I say one of the Rhode Island Reds lays first.
Katie — I love the side bet, but it would be hard to verify unless we catch her in the act. My understanding is that you generally find eggs unattended.
But if anyone wants side action on whether one of the “hens” is a rooster …
I’m going with my brother Marty’s birthday Oct 11th.
Seem as good a reason as any other!
BTW Blondie is a F#@$%*& rooster!
9/25 is my pic but check on 9/17 for early pair of eggs
I’ll guess my husband’s birthday…the 18th of September.
And I’ll pick up my eggs next summer…
I was going to guess 9/20 but someone beat me to it. I will guess 9/19. And If I win – since I live in CA – please donate the dozen to a nearby shelter/soup kitchen/whatver…..
9/18. I’m crazy out on this limb!
9/14
10/1
Waiting for our first eggs to arrive nearly drove me crazy. We bought ours on point of lay in August and waited until January for the first egg!
Danielle — Excellent idea for the eggs if we have a remote winner.
Dianna — You picked a day that’s already taken! Take another spin.
Hmmm…maybe they’ll take the hint and lay it on Labor Day! 9/7
Susan — That’s funny. At this point, I’m rooting for you!
CS — I believe I will feel your pain, and I think my pool is more optimistic than I am. I’m thinking late October or some time in November.
October 16th 2009
I am thinking Halloween!
10-31-09
mmm..seems to me by October 4th,a full harvest moon ,you can start scrambling up a few fresh eggs along with some foraged fall mushrooms …what time is breakfast ??
First egg(s) October 10 by 10a.m.
The idea of fresh eggs got me thinking about raising hens & talking to people about home farming, which led to putting together a program on the topic (& also a focus on where to find local food on Cape) for the Marstons Mills Library, at which I hope you will participate! (see email sent last night.)
Just found your blog from cottage smallholder. I doubt I’ll be able to collect the eggs if I win, but I have to put my little boy’s birthday down as a guess so 5th October. Well done on your efforts and I hope to catch up with some of the past posts soon. Rachel
Hi there! My first visit here. I’m putting $5 on the beak of a RIR for 23 September. If I win, I’m donating the eggs back to you for a celebration quiche. However, if you want to deliver them to Australia, we can quiche up here.
BTW, you can tell which chooks are getting ready to lay. Their comb will grow and be bright red. When you see that happening, your teenager will be a woman soon. ;- )
September 22.
Can’t resist jumping in on this as we wait for our first flock of chickens to start laying (we’re just over a month behind you guys)… how about October 2nd?
Aww I wanted Oct. 1st!
Ok I guess November 1st.
I have a silkie that hatched out March 20th and she still hasn’t laid an egg, but my other hens laid egg-actly 5 months after they were hatched, so I bet you’ll have eggs any day!
Egg-citing! (ok I’ll stop now – hee hee)
I am certain it will be Oct. 3, because that is the anniversary of the publication of “The Egg and I”.
First egg will appear on October 16th
find a mushroom and make an omelette
celebrate Columbus with the first egg, Happy 12th of October
September 24th – my half birthday!
My vote is a pure guess – my birthday October 27.
We have two chooks, one started laying on schedule, one took a couple more months! However she is huge and lays BIG eggs!
Hi Tamar,
I wanted to go for Halloween, but since it is taken, please put me in for Oct 30th.
Don’t you love it..they’ll start laying eggs just as it begins to get cold!! Scrambled eggs, omlettes, quiches, huevos rancheros, and delicious baked goods….makes me warm and cozy just thinking of it!!
Jane
I’ll have to go with the 17th—it’s my birthday.
I’ll say Oct. 13…
Our ducks started laying two weeks ago and we have been getting one egg from each of them every morning!
Fallon — Congratulations on the duck eggs! I’ve never eaten one, but I hear they taste like chicken.
they do but they have a sturdier texture… great for baking, souffles, meringues etc. all those things one should not eat on a regular basis so for now we’re sticking to extra fluffy scrambles.
September 30 as I’m getting on a plane to start my vacation
You’ll find an egg (or at least a reasonable attempt at such) on September 28.