Two weeks ago the DW found the first of the pullet eggs. Over the next week, we’d find an egg every other morning… slightly larger than the day before. A pretty good guess – there was one hen doing all the work. Still, the kiddos were able to collect enough eggs for the Sunday morning breakfast, though it took until Monday – good thing it was a snow day.

The first home raised egg with the last grocery store eggs.

Last week was a different story. Eggs started showing up every day. Different sizes, different shades, and (unfortunately) at different times of the day. Three or four of the hens are laying judging by egg color and size. Though all five hens are the same breed, there’s still a drastic difference in the shade of brown each one seems to lay. We’ve seen dark brown (like the picture above) and a light cream (see the center egg below).

The last grocery store egg (upper left) with the home raised eggs.

The size of the eggs have improved steadily, and we now have at least one hen laying a standard large, or extra large egg. The rest should get there in a few more weeks. Timing is still another thing. With the extreme cold, we’ll check every couple hours or so and find eggs at random times. It’s a little frustrating to head outside at 6 a.m. to find an egg in the nesting box only to discover it’s cracked open on the opposite side because it’s frozen solid. Though, I won’t complain. We’ve been lucky that all of the eggs but two have been laid in the nesting box. Hunting for eggs may be fun on Easter morning, but not every morning.