At what age did your chickens lay?

[Happy hen lover]

My sex links laid first around 18 weeks. Then my RiR girl, then weeks later my speckled sussex. Last but not least the youngest hen by about a month my Black Astrolorp. I think the whiting will be first how exciting! My BA is becoming broody and I went out at dark and took her out if box and placed her on roost. It was so dark she never moved. ( They can't see in the dark) so that may work . They wake up and start out a day like a normal chicken. I was wondering if that might break them from sleeping in boxes. I agree you DONT want them to get used to laying outside! It's a pain under a raised coop. So better to break sleep in box habit than retrain them to lay in boxes

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

They are both lovely and sweet..in another thread, a gentleman said they lay eggs like mad..looking forward to the blue eggs! I was so happy to see two lavender gray or smoke colored birds in my order..just thrilled..she started out solid, has been getting red brown accents..

I have 2 of them that are 9 weeks old.

 

[Happy hen lover]

I have 2 of them that are 9 weeks old.

I'm jealous such georgeous eggs!

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

I had 3, but 1 (of course my favorite) got pecked to death by her siblings.

 

[Happy hen lover]

How sad.

 

[Katanahamon]

I'm jealous such georgeous eggs!

 

[Katanahamon]

My order had a 16th, a buff orp..she made it to a few weeks, then just declined, I have absolutely zero idea why..nothing I tried helped. She had been great, one of the leaders, but one day, just was laying there, not eating. I won’t go into more details, but, there was much sobbing involved..I really didn’t expect to become so emotionally involved with the chicks..well, I guess I did, but, that really bothered me.edit..here she is when I was pulling out all the stops, I was weighing her, and you can see she didn’t have the strength to keep her legs under her..

 

[Outta Here]

My Rhode Island Reds started laying at 19 weeks. If you inaccurately count 4 weeks to a month (inaccurate because many months, like Jan1 to July 1, are 26 weeks), they started laying at 4¾ months old.

Addition: Another Rhode Island just started laying today at 18 weeks! (No, these aren't sex links.) Earlier than my leghorn of the same age!

 

[Outta Here]

me, too! Beeeaaauuutiful!

 

[hunterduff]

My Black Copper Marans are 18 weeks this week. I have kept the nesting boxes blocked. Do I remove it before an egg is laid or wait until they begin laying?
This is my first coop. I have the 4 Marans hens, and one Marans Rooster.

I’d allow them access