The Pullet Egg

It shouldn't have been a surprise. I'd been checking the floors and nesting boxes of the young hen house for about a month now. I've been telling the pullets that it's about time. The pullets and cockerels are about 6 1/2 months old. The Buckeyes are a slow-maturing breed. While some egg-specialist breeds start laying eggs at 5 months, if not before, the Buckeyes take a little longer. We hatched this group a little later in the spring than we usually do, and I wondered if they would lay at all in December. My older hens lay few eggs during the shortest days of the year and then pick back up in late January. I was surprised when I stepped into the hen house on a cold, snowy Sunday morning and almost crushed it: a small brown egg nestled in the sawdust on the floor.