Although we were warned to not expect eggs until the chickens were 6 to 9 months old, they began to lay when they were 4 months old. The first hen to lay an egg was one of the Golden Sex-Links. Naomi said she heard a "different kind of crowing," went outside, and found an egg in a makeshift nest in the foliage next to the foundation of the house. The Golden Sex-Link hung around the nest for a while, loudly announcing her achievement.
When the chickens pecked and ate some of their first eggs, I was shocked and a little repelled. The motherly "awwwk" the chickens made as they milled around my feet took on a sinister note. Even the way they eyed me seemed slightly menacing.
We decided to make a "roll away" nesting box. Calling upon our knowledge of engineering and physics principles, Naomi and I built our version of a roll away box, which wound up looking like a miniature hen house, complete with slanting roof. My neighbor, George, came over to witness our egg-rolling experiments. He must have thought we were nutty, but we could see that too steep an incline caused the egg to roll too fast and break or crash into another egg and break it, but too slight an incline and the egg didn't roll at all. Ultimately, only a couple of eggs were laid in the roll away box, but the hens enjoyed sitting (and pooping) on its roof.
We had planned to provide 12 nesting boxes (one for each chicken), until we learned that chickens prefer to share just a couple of nesting spots. Each day, when the hens lay their eggs, they queue up for their turn on the shelves that hold the nesting boxes. Recently, two Rhodies were scrabbling over who would be first in one box (the most desirable box appears to be the one on the middle shelf), and they both wound up crammed in the same box, one facing inward and the other outward.
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