Topic of the Week - When Do Pullets Begin Laying?

Jensride09 said:

Should I block my nest boxes off ? Our pullets are only 13 weeks old … I see the shaving in tne boxes a little scattered - but don’t see them in the boxes ever
Thanks !

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I never block my nest boxes, and I don’t mind my chooks roosting in them. I clean boxes and the roosts each morning (I use a same level shelf rather than a rail for roosting - no more bed time drama!).

My youngsters all checked out the boxes about a month before laying, this year I have a bunch of chicks and they will be encouraged to check out the boxes.

My Roo is keen for the gals to lay in the boxes he gets in one makes a nest, chortles to the girls who look bout then of course his favourite box is ignored by the hens haha! Poor Mr P

They will not lay until you have given up completely any hope of them ever laying. When you have come to grips with the idea that somehow, you were the one chosen to get chickens that do not lay eggs. Then 2 weeks later, they start.

Mountain Peeps said:

View attachment 2680956

One of the most common questions in the BYC forum is when to expect pullets to be laying eggs. It can be quite hard to be patient as we await the eggs' arrival, especially when we are lost as to when the pullets will even start. So, we're asking for your answers on this topic.

- When did your pullets begin laying? What breed are they?
- How long would it take for your new hens to start laying again?
- What are the signs that they are ready to lay eggs?



For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

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My hens started laying their eggs about 20 weeks old, They are an assortment of breeds but my olive eggers started laying around 25 weeks.

Mrs. K said:

They will not lay until you have given up completely any hope of them ever laying. When you have come to grips with the idea that somehow, you were the one chosen to get chickens that do not lay eggs. Then 2 weeks later, they start.

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I had a EE, I came to terms that maybe my EE was laying brown eggs instead of green. Woke up 1 week later to a green egg. So yes, this is 100% accurate.

Oh, completely unrelated, (sort of at least) but to whoever chose this picture to represent this thread, I love it! Do we happen to know the breed of the bird pictured?

Whenever the hen feels like laying an egg she will lay an egg

Yah said:

Whenever the hen feels like laying an egg she will lay an egg

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This sounds as if the hens has a choice. The hens don’t choose. They have an urge to do so. The hens can delay laying an egg if they feel it’s coming (waiting line for the nest box) but they certainly can’t stop it.

Mountain Peeps said:

View attachment 2680956

One of the most common questions in the BYC forum is when to expect pullets to be laying eggs. It can be quite hard to be patient as we await the eggs' arrival, especially when we are lost as to when the pullets will even start. So, we're asking for your answers on this topic.

- When did your pullets begin laying? What breed are they?
- How long would it take for your new hens to start laying again?
- What are the signs that they are ready to lay eggs?



For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

Click to expand...

Our orpingtons start 20-30 weeks. Most begin for us at 24ish weeks. Any heritage larger body bird seems to run at least 20+ weeks for us. Speckeled Sussex took 4ever, Marans were average for us. Rainbows took average time but were HUGE hybrids. Some of the hybrids we have raised were laying b4 we even realized it was them (amberlinks). Without looking in my notes all the austrolorpe were laying by 20wks. Hatchery buff orpingtons seem to lay earlier, but they have a small body structure compared to thier ancestors (our blues which are bred to SOP, double the size). American bresse took a long time 24+ and in my opinion the worst birds I've ever work with (and they taste like every other chicken?) The moral of my story, many people have told me over the yrs "they will start laying around 16wks" yeah unless I'm super bad at math or they are a laying hybrid not gonna happen in large breed chickens around here for sure!

Mine laid starting at 30 weeks. It was the hen shown in my profile picture, who we swore up and down was a roo because of comb size, demeanor, and the weird noises she makes. Well, she popped out her first egg, in the middle of the run. I've always had nest boxes set up in the coop and accessible, however, it's one of those cubby 4 shelf things, and I found out the hard way that the girls wouldn't lay in it until I put it flat on it's side to make kind of nest box pockets, and there must be fake eggs in them at all times or they forget.

Oh, bonus: she laid the egg the day before we left for our 3 week vacation and in the middle of a Michigan winter (December 30th).

carrierme said:

I have 14 Red Star hens. One started laying about 17 weeks and each day another one would lay. They will be 19 weeks on Tuesday and so far 9 have started laying. Just 5 more to go. They are also laying large eggs. Yesterday I had a double yoke.

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I have seen the double yoke in the youngers when their first start laying