Penny the House Chicken lays her first egg!

Today I decided to bring Penny the former house chicken inside my house as a break from the chickens.  She's been doing so good outside, learning how to be a chicken, but I figured she missed life inside a house.  Just in case you haven't read my former posts, she is a foster chicken from the local county shelter.  In her former life she lived in someone's house as a pet.

I put her in the kitchen and locked the cats out.  She lovvvvved being inside.  I turned the Olympics on TV and she didn't mind the noise one bit.  She's used to household noises, evidently.

She was very quiet when she was inside.  She walked all around checking everything out.  She liked eating cat food from the cat bowls and drinking their water.  Maybe she was fed and watered from a bowl before?

She was constantly scanning the floor, looking for things to peck.  She seemed very happy and ran from me when I attempted to pick her up and take her back outside to the chicken pen.  She prefers life indoors.  I brought her in the house first thing in the morning for about 30 minutes and later in the afternoon brought her back inside for another 30 min visit.  She begged to stay inside the second time.  She seems to be totally happy without other chickens around. 

This afternoon I collected eggs, and lo and behold, there was a new egg. 

Penny laid her first egg today!

We were told Penny never laid before.  Look at the small brown egg on the left.  It has an odd white crusty layer on the outside of the shell.  Sometimes a pullet's first eggs are odd, until her body gets used to laying regularly.  I've seen the white crust on many first eggs.  It was a small egg, which is normal for a first egg, too.  The large dark brown egg is from Candy, a Cuckoo Maran, and the green egg is from Virginia, an Amercauna.  The light brown egg is from Lucy.

And, dear Penny laid her egg in the guinea keet coop.  Of course she didn't lay it in the chicken coop like a normal chicken.  She's going to do things her way!

Penny must be happy if she's started laying eggs.  Hopefully she adjusts to life out in the chicken coop!