araucana layers???

[kirstychicken]

Anyone help and or advise me please? I have two Araucana's about 7 months old... and they show absolutely no interest in nesting or even thinking about laying...? Am I doing something wrong...? They have a lovely Egglu Omlet house and run all to themselves and look pretty happy... Also, pretty sure that they aren't boys!

thanks

 

[QueenMisha]

To start, I'm going to assume that the birds you have are Easter Eggers, not True Araucanas? If you're confused by the difference, here's a quick guide:

What is typically sold as an "Ameraucana", "Araucana", "Americana", or "Americauna", is, 95% of the time, an Easter Egger. True Ameraucanas and Araucanas are not sold by hatcheries, Easter Eggers are. They were both created in their modern form from crossbreedings of South American Araucanas and various other production breeds in the 1970s, but the first two are true breeds and the third one is a specific type of mutt.

Ameraucanas will:

Always be a specific color; e.g. Blue, Black, Wheaten

Always lay a blue egg

Always have ear muffs and a beard

Usually come from a private breeder

Araucanas will:

Always be a specific color; e.g. Blue, Black, Wheaten

Always lay a blue egg

Always have ear tufts (NOT muffs) and a beard

Always be rumpless (this does not apply to birds in UK or Australia)

Usually come from a private breeder

Easter Eggers will:

Be any color or mixture of colors

Usually lay a blue OR green egg but sometimes brown, white, tinted, etc.

Usually have a muff/beard but not always

Usually come from a hatchery

That said, not all chickens will begin to lay exactly at 20-24 weeks of age - and in fact Easter Eggers are known for taking longer than most breeds to lay, with an average point of lay around 26-30 weeks or even longer. The fact that it's winter isn't helping them get started any quicker.