Close to egg laying?

[ChickPrincess]

Just curious if anyone knows. I have several (we think) Tetra Tints about 15 weeks old, all pullets. Our rooster (same age) who has been mating and helping to create fertile eggs has started to mate with them. Does this mean they will lay eggs very soon? Or would he mate with them long before they lay?
I'm a little anxious, can ya tell???

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Being they are bred to be high-production layers at fifteen weeks they should be getting ready to start laying in the next four weeks or so. I do occasionally have commercial sex-links start at sixteen weeks though eighteen is more typical.

 

[ChickPrincess]

Wahoo! Thanks.

I'll keep checking those laying boxes!

 

[cmom]

The boys will practice mate the girls at that age. You could get eggs as early as 16 weeks but most start laying between 18 up to 24 weeks.

 

[ChickPrincess]

They can't come fast enough. Some of my egg customers have started to knock on my door to see if I have eggs even if my sign is not out. One lady bought 11 eggs the other day because I didn't even have a full dozen.
But I'm happy that they like my eggs so much! I only have 6 laying now, 24 pullets due to lay before mid-Sept I guess and will have FORTY laying come spring.
It's so hard to be patient. The 3 or 4 eggs I'm getting per day are a tease.

 

[cmom]

I started with 6 birds now I have over 300. My egg sales slows up during the summer months and picks up during the winter months. I usually try to hatch out chicks in the spring so they will start to lay in late summer and early fall as the eggs start out on the small size. The small eggs I sell in 18 packs for the same price as my large egg dozen cartons. Some people prefer the small eggs. I have some chicks right now that are about a month away from laying and other that are 2 and 3 months away. Good luck and have fun...

 

[ChickPrincess]

I started with 6 birds now I have over 300. My egg sales slows up during the summer months and picks up during the winter months. I usually try to hatch out chicks in the spring so they will start to lay in late summer and early fall as the eggs start out on the small size. The small eggs I sell in 18 packs for the same price as my large egg dozen cartons. Some people prefer the small eggs. I have some chicks right now that are about a month away from laying and other that are 2 and 3 months away. Good luck and have fun...

Several months ago, my husband said he wanted a few chickens for the kids to learn to take care of (with supervision, of course). I told him "I want NOTHING to do with your chickens!".
The coop is now pretty much mine, and I've convinced him he needs to build me more coop space to house our 18 chicks I just had delivered. LOL
Hey, he started it...

 

[cmom]

My husband had been telling me he wanted some chickens. He brought home the first batch of three day old pullet chicks in a small box and a small bag of chick feed, I thought OMG. We had nothing to keep them in. We were not prepared. Well we went out and bought a brooder and everything that goes with it. When the chicks were two months old we built their coop. The nest boxes weren't added until they were 4 months old. It was a lucky thing we did add them when we did because the following week we got our first egg. The next year I wanted to increase our flock so the brooder came in handy and we started again with new chicks. This time we were prepared and everything went very smooth. We invested in a shed that we converted into a brooder coop. and when they were big enough they were put in with the big girls and then the cycle started all over again. Soon we had to build a new and bigger coop then another coop as my coops were nearly maxed out. Now we have 4 coops. Two of the coops are divided (duplexes) so I can separate my breeding flocks. First I bought a Styrofoam incubator then another, then another and so on and decided to hatch some of my own eggs from my own flock. How Exciting that was. It After a few hatches I came across a cabinet incubator and the price was right so I bought it actually to re-sell it but decided to do a hatch in it so I set some eggs. I loved it. I came across another great deal on another cabinet incubator and bought it. Now with two cabinet incubators I could do some serious hatching. I decided I really didn't need two cabinet incubators so I sold one. I am addicted.

 

[ChickPrincess]

I just read your post to dh and we're both ROFL. Sounds just like us!
The neighbors may not like us with 300 chickens. They are about 3-400 feet away, but we ARE zoned residential/agricultural.

 

[ChickPrincess]

Wow! I should trust my gut more often... WE GOT NEW EGGS!!!
I am 99.9% sure they came from the Tetras. One was in the lay box this morning laying down, getting up and scratching, laying down again, getting up, scratching. I gave up watching and went inside.
We do have (I believe) 6 Red Sex Links that have been laying for awhile and they always lay in the same boxes, like clockwork, and their eggs always look the same.
I went out later and found a lighter colored, skinny egg in the middle of the run. Doing the happy dance!
Later, I went back out to check and there was ANOTHER smaller, skinny and lighter colored egg, this time in a laying box. I'm sure they are not from the RSLs because they look totally different.
I was resigned to waiting a few more weeks, as these pullets are only 15 weeks old.
My daughter will be so happy when she gets back from 4H camp!!!