Surprise!

As my young hens and roos are coming up on 19 weeks old now, I knew the pullets should start laying soon.  I'm pretty sure at least one was laying already, as twice now I've found a lone egg in the nest that had a small brown feather on it.  Still haven't seen any of them actually in the nest boxes, but no doubt they wanted their privacy and hopped in when I wasn't around.

The last two days I've only had one egg, so I'm hopeful that egg production will pick up as they come out of molt and the new girls start laying.

I scoop off poop-boards every morning and throw a handful of clean shavings up there to keep down the flies and odor, so leave a bag of fresh shavings in the big coop for easy access.

I moved it this morning to do just that and - surprise!

Six little someones left me a nice clutch of a half dozen eggs hidden behind the bag of shavings.  None of my girls lay overnight and I had moved that bag yesterday morning, so all six of those eggs were from yesterday, making a total of seven with the one I'd found earlier in the small coop.  Since I only have six big girls, seven eggs in one day confirms that the pullets are laying.  I'm sure it's probably more than one since it's unlikely that the big girls went six for six.

I guess there are no more babies in my little flock.  Herman is now crowing and buggering the big girls, and Lurch is even chasing his little sisters around, another confirmation that they're coming of age.