An egg!

So! Yesterday we went to a party in NY State, at Erin and Kevin's house for his big birthday bash/Octoberfest combo party. I had let the chickens out for a couple house prior to us leaving, so they'd be able to run around a bit before getting locked up for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, the kids seemed to scare 4 of the 5 away into some place we couldn't find them *just* before we left, so we had only the one lonely hen in the coop.. and then it was time to leave, so they were out for the rest of the day, on their own.

Just before we left though, I checked the box one more time, and saw my biggest R.I. Red was actually sitting in the next box.. I thought that was curious, but didn't think much of it cause I was still a bit irritated lookig for the rest of the flock which were quite cleverly hidden still. Come back to this in a moment..

So, we go to the party, and good times were had by all. It was a great fest, and the 'brats were really tastey, and there was a good cheese selection as well. Yumm!

On arrival at home many hours later, it turns out that the coop was all locked up.. seems our friendly neighbors to the east were able to locate the birds that evening and secured them up for us. Thanks guys! In addition to all 5 chickens being found, when  I opened the nest box door for a cursory glance inside, I found this:

I almost pee'd my pants, I tell you! 20 weeks, 2 days and one evening later, my chicken's first egg!  Of course, I suspect the R.I. Red that was in the nest box just befor we left.. she's one of only two really developed enough to produce an egg at this time, and she was last seen in the area.. so.. you do the math. Here's an up close pic taken during daylight in front my my computer here:

As you can (?) see, it's a slightly odd shaped egg, a bit long and pointy shaped... and quite on the small side.  Actually, a quick trip to the gram scale (at 41.2 grams) puts it on the high side of the "peewee" class.. the smallest size egg recognized by the USDA! It's normal, according to my research, to have chickens start out with small and unusual sized eggs, so I'm not worried.. just sorta curious when the rest are gonna step up to do their work.

As a side note, I'm drinking a vac pot prepared coffee with 14 grams of coffee per 9 oz of water.. this is a deviation from my now normal 18-15 gram hit in the morning. Just wanted to step back to my old standards and see how things tasted. Well.. weak is the word. I don't like it. Time to re-brew and start the morning off right.

That's all for now..