Egg-citing News!!!

BIG news from the Devine house... let me start by saying we had a crummy morning here at our house.  I'll tell you more about that in a minute, but it was just a boo-hoo/busy morning.  I was late getting outside this morning to feed the dog.  At about 10am, I was trying to clean up the kitchen and I took our leftover pancakes from breakfast out to the chickens and fed the dog.  Usually Kevin or I check the nesting box once a day for eggs, but we've been egg-less every time we've checked.  As I was feeding them the pancakes, I was debating whether or not to waste my time and check for eggs, but I decided to open the box.... and I let out a tiny excited squeal!  WE HAD OUR FIRST EGG!!!!

(Kevin read that if you add golf balls to the nesting boxes, it will help the hens know where to lay)

Kevin wasn't home (he was at the dentist) and I could.not.wait. to tell him!!!  I had texted him as soon as I saw it and said I had good news for him.  He came home kinda grumpy, like I had been all morning, and I was just smiling from ear to ear!  He said, "So what's the good news?"  Then I said, "What could the chickens have done that would make you happy?"  The light bulb went off and he said, "Did they lay an egg?!" And I told him to go look for himself.

Our chickens are 4 months + 12 days old, and that is EARLY for them to start laying.  They say happy chickens lay well, so we must have some happy chicks!

We were all so excited!  Allie brought it inside and we admired it for awhile.  Then we debated who should eat it.  I kept telling Kevin he should, and then we both mutually agreed we should scramble it so everyone could get a bite.

The girls ate every last speck.  There really is a difference if fresh eggs!  We should get an egg a day from the chicken that laid it, so hopefully the others will start laying soon too!  We could have as many as 50 eggs a week, but it will probably be a few months before we get that many - and egg production slows down in the winter so I'm thinking that many eggs will be more likely next spring.  We are one happy house today, so I had to share the excitement :)

Can't wait to do a whole breakfast for the family with them!

And just a little quick insert - Hayden had a pretty bad bike accident last night.  He flipped over his handle bars and landed on the concrete face first.  Kevin and I were out to dinner, but he got lots of TLC from his grandparents.  We came home and have taken care of this poor boy ever since.  He slept horrible last night (which is what I blamed my grumpiness on - no sleep bites) and he couldn't open or close his mouth this morning due to swelling.  He stayed home today and I've been trying to nurse him back to health.  I'm SO thankful he didn't break anything, or get hurt worse AND he was home today for our first egg.  I know he would have hated to miss the excitement!  Pray he feels better soon, please!

This was shortly after it happened. 

Looks worse today :(

Kind of hard to tell but the inside left side of his mouth is swollen the most.