3 eggs and waiting?

[bills]

My six ISA Brown hens are now producing three eggs a day, between them. I kind of thought they would all start laying at the same time, being that they are supposed to be the same age.

Are chickens like humans, in that some mature a little late than others?

 

[ibpboo]

How old are they? How long has it been since the first 3 started laying? I think they don't all start laying at the same time, exactly.

 

[bills]

I gather from what the feed store owner that I bought them through, they should be 21 weeks old now. When I first got them (18 weeks old approx.) I had the odd single egg, every other day or so. Then there was a break, and no eggs at all for about 8 days. I then started getting two a day on March 3rd, then three a day by March 6th.

Funny though, today I only got two again..

I turned off the heat light last night, which I have had running very low overnight, since I got them. It seemed significantly warmer the last few days, no more heavy frosts, so I figured why not turn it off. Perhaps this caused one to pucker up a bit.

 

[bills]

UPDATE

Hens are now approx 23 weeks old, and still I'm only getting three layers out of the six.

I have friends that want to buy eggs right away, which would be good for helping with the feed costs, but haven't got the numbers yet. Our family eats the ones we now get.

The three that are not laying still seem to have the pinker combs, and wattles, where the layers are full on red, and larger as well. Does this mean that they are still imature birds? Could I have gotten some younger birds mixed in with older, or is there some that just take longer than others to get into production?

How long should I expect to wait for the remainder to get with the program?

 

[ibpboo]

sorry about that, hopefully some one on here can help you out!

 

[ibpboo]

After their winter molt, none of my chickens laid eggs for awhile. They are all 6 years now. Then the 2 RIR started laying again in January, but not consistently every day. After about 2 months, I started thinking my EE was never going to lay again, thought maybe she was getting too old. But ya, 2 months later, she is now laying too! Now these are different breeds, but, it does show that chickens do lay at different times. Just thought I'd share, good luck with yours.

 

[cmom]

I had the same thing with my girls. All were from the same hatch. Some started to lay at about 17 weeks and others didn't start until around 24 weeks. I have RIR'S.