Americauna's Egg Laying

[D5tillery]

I purchased 10 hens from Hoover's Hatchery Americana Chickens, 10 Count Baby Chicks but i got 1 rooster and 9 hens which is what I was expecting and hoping for Anyways They are 6 months old.. I have them on 16% Layer and scratch. I also feed them veggies and they are free roamers so they get access. We live in central florida so the weather is 60-80 during the day depending and 40-60 at night. Should I expect them to lay at this time? I read online they start producing around 6 months. Im excited.. This is my first flock. My building is a little smaller than it should be and we are hoping to replace with something bigger. When i purchased the chickens everyone told me that i would lose a few so I bought a chicken coop that would fit 10 chickens.. It does not fit 10 very well.. Some roost on top at night.
Thanks for listening

 

[mommiesrcool]

I purchased 10 hens from Hoover's Hatchery Americana Chickens, 10 Count Baby Chicks but i got 1 rooster and 9 hens which is what I was expecting and hoping for Anyways They are 6 months old.. I have them on 16% Layer and scratch. I also feed them veggies and they are free roamers so they get access. We live in central florida so the weather is 60-80 during the day depending and 40-60 at night. Should I expect them to lay at this time? I read online they start producing around 6 months. Im excited.. This is my first flock. My building is a little smaller than it should be and we are hoping to replace with something bigger. When i purchased the chickens everyone told me that i would lose a few so I bought a chicken coop that would fit 10 chickens.. It does not fit 10 very well.. Some roost on top at night.
Thanks for listening

with the days getting shorter its a 50/50 chance of getting eggs at this time but you might get lucky and see some eggs, especially because of their age, my girls are 5 months old and I cant wait for some eggs!!

 

[suburbanjungle]

I have noticed that many sites selling chicken coops often overstate how many full-sized chickens can comfortably fit in the coop. If they say 10, I would assume 8 or less.

My chickens aren't able to freely roam due to neighbors fences, possums, raccoons, hawks, and other predators, so I keep them in a run attached to the coop. In the run I have two smaller coops. I must also note that I had to add roosting bars to the smaller coops because they didn't come with any since they are also sold as rabbit hutches. I also had to add a second door to one of them so that they could escape through any route (bullying being my concern).

At this time, my four oldest sleep in the large coop (where the nesting boxes are located), six pack themselves into one of the smaller coops, and three sleep in the other smaller coop. The six in the small coop is pretty tight, but it's their choice right now. At least they all have a covered and relatively secure space to roost at night.

I do recommend looking into at least one smaller coop to supplement the space. I'm sure your flock would appreciate it.

As for whether they "should" be laying, it all depends on breed and other factors. I, too, just started. I bought my first few in May. They were Rhode Island Reds. A week later I bought a couple of White Leghorns. The Leghorns started laying in late October and the RIR followed just after. My next group came in late July and the first from that group just started laying, and I'm hoping the others will follow soon. Our temperatures in California are pretty similar to what you have described but about 10 degrees colder on average.

In my research, too, I have found that chickens sold as "Americanas" are not actually "Ameraucanas" but easter eggers. See this article at the Chicken Chick. The traits you see may vary from what you find online due to varying breeding options, so determining a true maturity date could be tough.

Hopefully, though, you will start seeing them soon! I look forward to seeing your posts when they start!

The first small coop I added. I painted it to match the larger coop. I had to add the door below the coop area (bottom right) since it only had the one large door at the left. I also added two roosting bars inside the coop area. Another downside to this coop is the flat top with hardware cloth. The chickens love to sit on top (as shown) and they then poop down into the area below, on other chickens, on the feeders I had in there, etc. I also had to add larger slide locks because the ones provided were way too small and weren't all that functional.

The second small coop I added. Note that this one has MANY doors AND the area in the upper right is covered so no chicken poop falls through from any chickens sitting on top. Also the coop area on this one is slightly larger than the small green one. I also had to add roosting bars inside the coop area. The door closures for this one were larger and better than the other. Rather than sliding locks, they are spring loaded.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Welcome to BYC!!
I normally get chicks in the spring and they are laying by July or August.
I have had EEs start laying as early as 20 weeks old and to as far as 28 weeks old.

 

[CHlCKEN]

Let’s see pictures of your girls too. By your spelling of this, I’m thinking you have Easter Eggers and not true Ameraucanas

 

[human1]

Let’s see pictures of your girls too. By your spelling of this, I’m thinking you have Easter Eggers and not true Ameraucanas

i agree here!
and welcome to BYC!

 

[EmmaRainboe]

Welcome to BYC! So glad you decided to join us!

I find with Easter Eggers it's hard to know when they will start laying. Especially because they are mixed breeds.

 

[Willow2253]

Easter eggers can be hard to predict. I got 2 last spring from the same source, one started laying at 22 weeks and the other didn’t lay until 30 weeks. You could be looking at getting eggs any day, or not for another two months.
You mentioned you’re also feeding them scratch, which is fine, but should only be used as a treat given sparingly.

 

[Offshoreorca]

I have two Wheaten Ameraucana pullets that I hatched near the end of May who haven’t started laying yet and they’re already 32 weeks. I don’t expect them to really start until the days get a bit longer, although one of them is showing signs of getting closer to lay now. For the longer maturing breeds, it’s best to start them earlier in the year (February/March) so they lay through the first winter.