19 and a half weeks old and still no eggs :( egg countdown anyone??

[chickenteacher2]

Got my first at 18 weeks. One a day for the first 3 days then went to two a day. Next week I got 3 for 2 days then 4 one day. I was a happy camper. Now we're back to 2 a day. I tell them to remember "an egg a day keeps the colonel away." They all just won't listen.

I'll will try that one. I just tell the girls they'd better make mama happy & I'm always asking where my eggs are. Unfortunately, two of my egg layers have died recently, I THINK, due to my neighbor's oleanders. So, I get out there everyday and rake up the flower junk. My silkie is brooding and the RIRs are 4-5 years old - I believe only one lays and sporadically at that. So the grown EE is my only one I can count on and she only lays every few days. The babies have awhile to go.....I might have to resort to buying eggs!!!!!

 

[buchfan]

Don't worry! Two of my Stars just started laying last week and they were about 20 weeks old. I have been getting an egg from each of them every day since!

 

[richicken]

I have 12 R.I. reds I bought in April, and around July 13 we started getting 3 eggs a day every day since.Hang in there any day now you will start finding eggs and be just as excited is we are about our chickens.

 

[fallenleader]

i got my red sexlink chicks from TSC in mid may, i found 3 eggs today, not sure if from more than 1 hen, or more than a day old, or what.
i broke the eggs to check quality, they were small medium big, biggest had double yolk. all eggs had good shell and good color, 1 was a little runny, double yolk a bit thick.

maybe i will have to start checking for eggs, i was expecting fall. sheesh, i didn't even have their nesting box fully set up, so i threw pine shavings in it for now.

 

[Chicks on DL]

We have 26 Golden Comets, they are 17 weeks. They have been laying since 15 weeks. We were very surprised when we found the first egg. We weren't expecting it yet.

I love my Comet. She started laying the day after the Supermoon. She was right around 18 weeks. My BO layed on Supermoon Saturday and she was about the same age. Mine always see to start around a full moon. The first is so exciting. My daughter still tells people how mommy screamed the first time we found an egg. It really is hard to wait.

 

[NovaRidge]

I have a variety of hens (23 heavy layers) purchased in April. One of my red comets started laying at week 13. Didn't think she would start so soon! Hadn't built the nesting boxes, so went to BJs and got some of the bulk boxes and attached them around the coop. Every 2 days she now deposits a nice medium brown egg in the Kraft cheese box.

 

[PartyOnARoost]

One SLW and one White Leghorn... Their 15 weeks anyone know when they will lay?

 

[kacg66]

My girls are 20 and a half weeks today and I just got my first small but perfect brown egg yesterday. It was so egg-citing!!!

Its small compared to the extra-large white egg but it is silky smooth and perfect.

I set my nesting boxes up with fluffy hay and some golf balls about 2 weeks ago and she laid it in the right spot. I don't know which of the 4 did it but I know the other will follow suit soon.

 

[marisaalexandra]

This is such a happy thread, compared to the ones about torn wattles and hawk activity I've had to read lately!

We have three roos and two happy but ah possibly anxious looking hens, leghorns and an RIR, all hatched together, and 16 weeks as of 8/5. So far it's been peaceful, but I may eventually swap a rooster or two for another hen for the morale of the coop. We are really attached to two of the three, though, so it won't be easy.

These are my first birds and they range in the backyard during the day, so I'm looking forward to going on egg hunts with my daughters soon. (Can there be any dignity in a 47 yr old peering hopefully under bushes several times a day for eggs?!) I've been really surprised at how much having chickens has given meaning to pasttimes like egg hunts, counting your chickens before they're hatched, getting hackles up, and whatever! We didn't deliberately time them to hatch at Easter... it was more like we timed them for the school science fair, and just got lucky. Keeping them feels as familiar to me as it does strange, and as frightening as it is joyful.

Thanks for all the information about what to watch for. I'm going out to find some wooden decoy eggs today... a friend said they sell them at Michael's. It's harder to come by chicken gear in NJ suburbia so congratulate yourselves if you don't have to cross highways to find eggs! : )

 

[3 Golden Girls]

Hobby Lobby has fake eggs too. I got two ceramic eggs for my nest box and fooled my neighbor. She was watching the hens for me while I was away and when she let them out that morning, she saw the eggs and said 'oh no... I shouldn't be the first to find an egg'. Then she said she realized they were ceramic and laughed.
The eggs haven't helped my hens or given them any encouragement. They still haven't laid and they are 20 wks old.