What did your pullet look like when she laid her first egg?

[Birdsong 82]

I wish I had pictures. I mean I have pictures but I can’t associate them with when they first started laying because it was a while ago. But I’ve had some start laying at 20 weeks but I’ve had a couple that didn’t lay for 10 months! Any squatting is a good sign their really close.
But I always wonder what in the world is a chicken thinking the first time they lay an egg. that’s got to be weird. Like ‘what the heck just came out of me’ ?! I mean imagine that. Haha
Congrats on your new chicken life of extremely fun chaos!

 

[WakaFlockaChickens]

Yeah, she most likely will lay eggs within 2 weeks. Could be even earlier.

I found her first egg this morning! She laid it while on the roost bar and it is a soft shelled egg, but first egg none the less! Woo!

 

[drdoct]

I found her first egg this morning! She laid it while on the roost bar and it is a soft shelled egg, but first egg none the less! Woo!

1 of my almost year old EE's still does that every now and then. Drives me crazy. Have you switched them to laying pellets or mash yet? Mine free range so all my first eggs have been seriously hard. Small like 1oz eggs, but very hard. It's such a fun time trying to see who is laying.

I put cameras in my coop so I can know who is laying and when.

 

[WakaFlockaChickens]

1 of my almost year old EE's still does that every now and then. Drives me crazy. Have you switched them to laying pellets or mash yet? Mine free range so all my first eggs have been seriously hard. Small like 1oz eggs, but very hard. It's such a fun time trying to see who is laying.

I put cameras in my coop so I can know who is laying and when.

I don’t have them on layer feed - they’re on grower/all flock and have free choice oyster shell. If the soft shells persist I will probably switch them to layer since I don’t have a roo. They also “free range” in our backyard - but we live in the city so it isn’t exactly an enormous space! Hence the quotation marks! I assume she will work it out over time. She’s been diligently visiting the nest boxes lately and I think the laying part may have snuck up on her this morning and she didn’t know what it was. I will be very curious to see what the next egg looks like, and how soon it comes!

 

[drdoct]

Here's my Wyze camera on my laying box. Then I can go back and see who laid eggs. Always fun to do now that I have different color eggs and want to know who laid their first egg.

 

[WakaFlockaChickens]

Here's my Wyze camera on my laying box. Then I can go back and see who laid eggs. Always fun to do now that I have different color eggs and want to know who laid their first egg.

I’ve considered adding a camera to the coop but I find that I get obsessive over this stuff and don’t know if a camera will make that better or worse for me all of mine should lay different colors except for two, but those two are developing at a very different rate so I think it will be clear who is first there. Fingers crossed! And I’ll definitely add a camera if it starts to drive me up the wall!

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I’m still waiting but have a while for first egg as pullets are 15-16 wks. One hen squats all the time..always has. She’s also HUGE compared to pullets of same breed and age. Niederrheiner and her name is Gloria, but I just caller her big momma.
What does a squat look like??

 

[Island_Time]

Seattle is definitely a backyard chicken city! I can hear two additional flocks when I stand in my backyard. “Oh! Sounds like the neighbor has a new egg!” Haha!

I know that my girls aren’t quite there, but I was really curious to see photos of pullets that have just started to lay because I suspect they won’t all look super developed. I’ve seen a number of posts here where people collect a first egg, and I’m shocked at how pink and tiny their chickens are! Like my neighbor - practically no comb or wattles and pink, yet somehow laying eggs!

I guess I was thinking it could be a thread similar to the first egg thread, but more of a “my chicken had her first period!” thread

Bluebelle (my Blue Cuckoo Maran) laid her first egg yesterday. It was a small egg. She laid another one today but it broke immediately and the others feasted on it. I’ll get a picture tomorrow and post it here. Shockingly she was born March 27 so she’s only 16 weeks old.

 

[saysfaa]

Coco, 19 weeks and 4 days,
Spice, 21 weeks and 2 days

Pepper and Nutmeg were about the same time but I don't know exactly because Coco and Spice skipped days when they first started laying and I can't tell Coco's eggs from Pepper's or Spice's eggs from Nutmeg's.

Mocha started weeks later.

Pictures are Coco, Pepper, Nutmeg, and Spice, each within a week of her first egg. I don't have a picture of Mocha near her first egg.

 

[WakaFlockaChickens]

I’m still waiting but have a while for first egg as pullets are 15-16 wks. One hen squats all the time..always has. She’s also HUGE compared to pullets of same breed and age. Niederrheiner and her name is Gloria, but I just caller her big momma.
What does a squat look like??

A squat is where they put their wings out a little from their body and crouch or squat down. They also sometimes stomp their feet as they assume the position. It’s fairly distinctive now that I’ve seen it. One of my girls simply let me pet her before - now she is squatting and it’s a fairly obvious change. Here is a photo of one of my girls squatting two days before she laid her first egg. Hope that helps!