Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs

It's been egg-ceptionally cold here in south/central Ohio, as it has many other places in the country. I still had only one chicken out of six laying (they're still young), and she went from laying every 2-3 days to a much slower 5-6 days between eggs, and some of them were found frozen solid in a matter of hours, broken open and not edible.

First egg, Dec 6, 2009

Since it's been so cold, I was only letting the hens out of the coop for a few minutes at a time, just a few times a day. It's understandable that the extreme cold and limited exposure to light would bring egg production almost to a standstill.

All of the eggs have been a good size, bigger than the large eggs I'm buying in the grocery store, and a nice, even brown color.

One of the earlier eggs compared to a
grocery store large white egg.

The last two days were much warmer (in the 30s and even hit 40 for a short time!) so the girls spent quite a bit of time in the yard. Being out in the daylight has made a difference - I got an egg two days in a row! That's not happened before, so I think one of the other hens has finally come of age.

This little lady is responsible for eggs thus far.

I'm ready for spring - and more eggs!