First baby egg?

The little chicks that I got in April through the mail were only a day or 2 old. I initially had them in a plastic bin, and then a brooder box in the basement until mid-May when I moved them outside to a large dog crate inside a fence, right next to the coop.

It's only been about a week that I let them outside their compound to roam free. For the first few nights they were happy to go back to the safety of the crate at night where I locked them up again.

Then I went to NJ. Mama was away and the kids were misbehaving. Husband called me Friday night, the day I left, and said all 9 of them were in a tree outside the coop, in the rain. And again Saturday night.

When I got back on Sunday evening, I was able to coax them into the coop and then drag the dog crate in there and lock them up. But last night after work, they were busy running away from me. >>>>>

When I went out later, in the dark, 2 gray ones were in the coop on the roost with the big girls, 7 were outside in the tree.

Little stinkers! After all I have done for them!

With much trouble I was able to get them all back in the crate, but tonight I know I will get home really late and I am pretty sure they will be in the tree again, in the rain again.

At least 9 of the 10 have survived long enough (I think) to start laying eggs. Today I found this tiny offering in the nest box with the big eggs. Pretty sure it's from one of the young uns.