Age to start laying?

[daniel-delarosa]

My chickens are five months old now. My rooster just started crowing last week. Does that mean that its fixin to be egg time?!

 

[justbugged]

5 months is about the time you should start getting eggs from your hens. But it is still early in the year so it could be a bit more. If you watch your girls they will soon be doing the egg squat. They may even be doing it right now. I am sure that you will soon be getting eggs.

 

[daniel-delarosa]

I still have a light in my coop, should I take it out?

 

[SassyKat6181]

I have Barred Rocks and Black Sexlinks that started laying about 2 weeks ago (at 23-24 weeks) Yesterday I got 8 eggs from 12 girls. I have the light on in their coop set for 14 hours, which is the minimum they need to lay. Good luck!

 

[dsqard]

You can leave it in if you like. Are you leaving it on all the time, or just to extend "daylight"? I know you said that your pullets are five months old but there is no set time for a chicken to start laying. The kinds of things you can look for to see if they are getting ready to lay are: redder combs and wattles, pullets doing the egg squat, they go in to the nest boxes to investigate them and "singing" the egg song. Now your pullets may do some of these things, all of these things or only one of these things. Each chicken will be different. Mine never squatted for me (probably because they have a real rooster to squat for), didn't sing the egg song and I never caught them investigating the nest boxes. I watched their combs and wattles to see if they were getting redder and bigger. All of mine were well over six months before they started laying, sometimes you just have to be patient.

Hope this helps!
ETA - I do not have additional light in my coop, have never used it and mine layed all winter and are really starting to pick up now so extra light is a personal choice but not necessary even in winter. I do admit I was getting fewer eggs when there was less daylight.

 

[ibpboo]

Oh, how eggciting, you'll be getting eggs soon.
I always say about 6 months is when they start laying.
Will these be your first eggs?

 

[daniel-delarosa]

Yes, the light is on full time. I feel sorry for them being in the dark, lol. These are also my first chickens. I heard that putting golf balls in the nesting box will help, is this true?

 

[Liamm_1]

Quote:
It won't help them to begin laying, it merely gives them the idea that that location would be a good place to lay an egg.
All pullets begin at different times. That being said, 5-6 months is a very common point. My 3 pullets just began to lay at around 5 3/4 months.
And the idea they need artificial light to lay is incorrect. I'm getting 2-3 eggs every day, with 11 hours of daylight now. They began laying with about 10.5 hours daylight.

 

[OkChickens]

I have a few different breeds, my Red Stars started laying at before 21 weeks, and my EE's were about 28 weeks and my Welsummers were laying when I got them. I have a light on in my coops for a total of about 15-16 hours of daylight.

-Nate