A Miracle is Happening at 7 Baker Drive!

We picked up the chickens (currently un-named due to their similar appearance) in May and were told that they would begin laying in roughly 18 weeks. This is about 2 weeks after we picked them up:

Now they look like this, and they sit in my pots outside:

Since then our investment in the chickens has included pullet food, laying food, crushed oyster shells, a coop, and many sleepless nights since we found this in the backyard trying to dig under. People at work think we should shoot it....not sure why I am hesitant to do that.

Each day we have anxiously waited, hoping that an egg would appear. And then...last week...one did. Dave found it in the coop. Here it is, the first egg, shown with other household objects for scale:

Since then we have had roughly five more. We think only one chicken is laying, and from what I understand we can expect one egg a day for the first year of their laying life. They slow down after that, and you are supposed to get rid of them since they are not as productive, but I don't quite understand how that is going to go.

Thanks chickens!