21 weeks and NO eggs yet.

[greyfields]

Just as a general response to this question, which gets asked a lot, make sure your hens aren't hiding them. I have hens who fly out of their field enclosure, lay eggs in the bushes, then fly back in for the food.

Also, to be absolutely sure it's not nutrition related, have free choice calcium available to hens. I once kept a crop of hens a little past point-of-lay because the field coop wasn't finished yet. I had them on homemade pullet developer (low calcium). A day after switching to laying ration, they started dropping eggs like all at once.

 

[equine chick]

My barred rock is 23 weeks today and we finally got a first egg. The americauna who is the same age has been giving eggs for 3 weeks now so it all depends when they are ready.

 

[horsewishr]

Well, they're not hiding them. If the girls are not in their coop/run, they're in the tractor enjoying the grass. Every few days they free-range for a couple of hours toward evening. When they're out, I watch them like a hawk (if you'll excuse the expression).

I know that 20 weeks is just an average. But I had hoped that all my girls wouldn't be below average.

FWIW, I switched them to a very good quality layer feed (I read and compared all the labels) at 18 weeks.

I'll keep waiting.

(Where's the finger-drumming emoticon?????)

 

[love2sail]

Quote:
OMG that is a huge egg! Our first eggs were tiny (they are still small but they're getting bigger) maybe that's what took so long she was growing a whooper!! LOL

Any idea which one laid it?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Today our Leghorn layed her first egg. Our hens are 17-18 weeks old. She is the second
of 16 to start laying. She was free ranging and made a little nest. My wife saw her
acting strange and let me know. It was obvious she was getting ready to lay her
egg. Sure enough, an egg.

I wonder how many other nests are on the hillside they range on.


A note on light:
We leave a light on in the coop until 11:20PM.

 

[LynnGrigg]

Well.... my 15 pullets turned 18 weeks yesterday. We've been out of town for the Labor Day holiday(My son takes care of them while we're away). We returned late Monday evening so of course I had to go sit with my flock for a bit before roost time, give them treats, pet them, coo at them and beg for eggs... etcetera-lol. I notice that the hay in the nest boxes has been hollowed out in several areas and that is more than just the two that my three elder laying hens prefer. I'm getting just a little eggcited myself! No eggs yet from the youngsters , as I know of ....but hopefully soon... I have five Easter Eggers and I'm hoping for a lovely blue green egg. My Red stars are becoming quite red in the face and their waddles are growing. One of my Buff Orps is also getting red in the face area. The EEs have had red pea combs for a while now. My Partridge Rock is hard to tell much about. She has a blackish red comb and face.