At last! Buttercup has finally laid her first egg - - I think. This egg has some lovely speckling on the brown shell, but the spots you see are actually from my camera lens that I can't seem to get clean. Clearly, I need a new camera. Anyway, just look at the size of that egg - it's huge! I believe this egg is Buttercup's because all the other girls don't lay speckled eggs, but I never knew Buff Orpingtons laid speckled eggs, so maybe I'm just lucky mine does.
I had been watching expectantly, knowing that any day she would finally lay an egg, but of course she surprised me when I wasn't looking, that lil' rascal! For a while there I was beginning to think she was a dud. Well, she is now officially a hen, and no longer a pullet! They grow up so fast don't they? Now I have four egg laying hens, only one pullet remains. Now I anxiously await the jade colored jewel that will signal Miss Olive's right of passage into hen hood. It should be arriving some time in December, that is if she will lay in the "winter." Chickens don't usually lay eggs in the winter because of the shorter amount of day light. But here in So. Cal. our winters boast 11 hours of sunlight, and are down right balmy compared to the eight month frigid Alaskan freezes my husband enjoyed as a youth. Even so, I won't hold my breath, but still I stand a fairly good chance that she will lay an egg before next year!