C'mon chickens!!!

It's all about the girls these days. Grace, Ruth, Esther & Kevin should be laying eggs by my calculations....alas, disappointed anticipation leaves my mornings wondering what I've done wrong, what could I be doing better...what's wrong with these silly things!??? They seem happy and active. Kevin played with my shoelace today until she untied it. Grace bounded and fluttered from her sunbathing when I tossed out bread crumbs. I even called the folks out at the Grange yesterday to inquire what could be wrong. "I have four different types. Shouldn't one of them be laying by now? I got them on May 1, and they were almost a week old." Fifteen minutes with one lady offered me nothing more than perhaps a different brand of food. She patched me through to Susan, the chicken pro, and she delivered the most disappointing news of all. "There is a lot of wrong information on the net," she begins, "and in my experience, having raised chickens all my life, I've never had one lay at 5-6 months. It takes a while. I wouldn't expect eggs until early spring..." Ugh. My hopes sank. Seriously? I've been gloomy gus since the call, but today, while the girls were out, the lingered longer at my feet than they usually do. I've given up hope trying to pet them. Their teenage adolescence of don't-touch-me is lingering on. They were so close, I tried. Kevin, of course, pretends that she doesn't like it, but is always right on top of me...sometimes, literally. I patted at the others... but Esther! Esther did this squat/fan wings out thing that apparently they do when they are close to laying. I was so thrilled... I chased her down and petted her again to make sure she wasn't pretending. Same reaction. So. Today I have hope that these hypothetical eggs will come....