Australorps breed Thread

[Gramma Chick]

I Agree Natural is best ...you can force them to lay but why would you want to...

 

[mamatink7]

All of my girls, regardless of breed, were pretty constant on how often they laid once they started. Pullets will lay through their first winter, spring and summer then have their first adult moult.

With a lot of breeds, they won't lay much, if at all, the following winter unless you force them with 14 hours of light daily. I choose not to do that since the girls will be here until they die of old age or have to be saved from a slow uncomfortable death due to disease or injury. No need to wear their little bodies down and (hopefully) they will be more productive in later years. I have a 4 Y/O EE that was still laying 2-3 eggs every 4 days all spring and summer.

thank you. I'm not forcing them to lay, just a curiosity as we just started having several lay for a week now. We are averaging 2 every day not sure how many GC are laying and know only 1 BA started. I'm new at this so it's all very exciting

 

[bruceha2000]

You should be in egg heaven for the next year

Some start sort of slow and ramp up. Most start with smaller eggs that get larger over the first few months.

For example, Eos (an EE) was the first of my 2015 chicks to lay at 23 weeks 2 days.
First egg was 38g (Peewee)
Day off
44g, 46g. (USDA Small)
Day off
48g, 50g
Day off
50g and 46g
Day off
46, 48, 50, 52 (finally getting into USDA Medium)
Day off
She worked up to 3-4 eggs then a day off. She didn't hit a USDA Large (> 57g) until she was 32 weeks. Slowly ramped up to the high end of Large and occasionally into X-L (> 64g) when she was a year old.

Others go hard out of the chute. Angel (a White Rock) started the day after Eos.
1, day off, 2, day off, 5, day off, 7, day off, 32, day off. Yes she laid THIRTY TWO days straight. She tends to have long runs. She moved up to USDA Medium pretty quickly and currently lays in the mid to higher end of Large.

 

[duluthralphie]

You should be in egg heaven for the next year

Some start sort of slow and ramp up. Most start with smaller eggs that get larger over the first few months.

For example, Eos (an EE) was the first of my 2015 chicks to lay at 23 weeks 2 days.
First egg was 38g (Peewee)
Day off
44g, 46g. (USDA Small)
Day off
48g, 50g
Day off
50g and 46g
Day off
46, 48, 50, 52 (finally getting into USDA Medium)
Day off
She worked up to 3-4 eggs then a day off. She didn't hit a USDA Large (> 57g) until she was 32 weeks. Slowly ramped up to the high end of Large and occasionally into X-L (> 64g) when she was a year old.

Others go hard out of the chute. Angel (a White Rock) started the day after Eos.
1, day off, 2, day off, 5, day off, 7, day off, 32, day off. Yes she laid THIRTY TWO days straight. She tends to have long runs. She moved up to USDA Medium pretty quickly and currently lays in the mid to higher end of Large.

WOW,, You must have lots of spare time to be able to record all this!

My record keeping on eggs is, "well, they laid some......."


The only time I have an idea what and who is doing what is hatching time when I keep track of which breed lays and how many a day.


I need to become more anal about record keeping. The USDA vet would so happy then too.

 

[mamatink7]

WOW,, You must have lots of spare time to be able to record all this!  

My record keeping on eggs is, "well, they laid some......."


The only time I have an idea what and who is doing what is hatching time when I keep track of which breed lays and how many a day.


I need to become more anal about record keeping. The USDA vet would so happy then too.

LMBO. I'm super anal too, just newer at it. I homeschool twins & have other kiddos so this is the major topics of school. It sure helps keep things organized if you do something like this, there are plenty of charts online you can use. If you have an egg scale, it's wonderful!

 

[mamatink7]

You should be in egg heaven for the next year   

Some start sort of slow and ramp up. Most start with smaller eggs that get larger over the first few months. 

For example, Eos (an EE) was the first of my 2015 chicks to lay at 23 weeks 2 days.
First egg was 38g (Peewee)
Day off
44g, 46g. (USDA Small)
Day off
48g, 50g
Day off
50g and 46g
Day off
46, 48, 50, 52 (finally getting into USDA Medium)
Day off
She worked up to 3-4 eggs then a day off. She didn't hit a USDA Large (> 57g) until she was 32 weeks. Slowly ramped up to the high end of Large and occasionally into X-L (> 64g) when she was a year old. 

Others go hard out of the chute. Angel (a White Rock) started the day after Eos. 
1, day off, 2, day off, 5, day off, 7, day off, 32, day off. Yes she laid THIRTY TWO days straight. She tends to have long runs. She moved up to USDA Medium pretty quickly and currently lays in the mid to higher end of Large.

do you worry when they have a day off, or is it something you get used to? We've only been laying for a wk and only a few are laying now. Just trying to be able to plan better. Thx!

 

[Gramma Chick]

do you worry when they have a day off, or is it something you get used to? We've only been laying for a wk and only a few are laying now. Just trying to be able to plan better. Thx!
No ...Each chicken is a little different
Some lay every day ...I had comets which laid almost every day for years .. they have all died now
Some lay every other day . a younger chicken lays more a week than a older chicken ..
Older chickens usually lay bigger eggs though

 

[bruceha2000]

do you worry when they have a day off, or is it something you get used to? We've only been laying for a wk and only a few are laying now. Just trying to be able to plan better. Thx!

Nope but it is helpful to know the approximate lay rate and pattern of each bird. Since I have a variety of breeds and each has their own little differences in their eggs, I can tell which bird laid each one. With some of them I never expect more than 2 or 3 in a row and what size they USUALLY are (though Eos has been laying in the 60g range and I found one of her eggs in the run the other day. 12 grams. It happens, they are called "fart eggs"). Others lay many days then take 1 or 2 off.

When I stopped finding eggs from Yuki (Meyer Hatchery White Rock, hatched June 2015) I knew something was up though no idea what. Her laying history is long runs then a day off. She has laid 78% of the days since her first egg and never takes more that 2 days off so no eggs for 2 weeks was WAY unnatural. I found her in the bushes in the front yard one day while I was mowing. Came back later and she was gone but there were 13 of her eggs in a nest. She wasn't acting broody and has never been so. But still no Yuki eggs on the coop nests and nothing in the "yard nest" in the days following.

I tried to keep track of her but failed (can't spend your entire day tracking a hen) until late one morning I spotted her OUTSIDE the fence, near the road heading to a pile of 5 eggs. I collected those and kept her from going back to that area. She went NUTS trying to find a place to start a new nest in the bushes but I wouldn't let her. I eventually snagged her and brought her to the barn. She went NUTS wanting to go outside to lay. NUTS going in and out of the 4' long enclosed box, NUTS going in and out of the 4' long open box with 2 dividers. NONE were good enough even though she had been laying in them since last November. On a whim I made her a nest in the "feed room" in a corner grain feeder. KINDA OK but not. So I jury-rigged a cover over it. She decided it was OK, or that egg wasn't giving her any choice by then. It is now covered with a saddle pad over a hoop of black plastic pipe and she has been laying faithfully in that nest ever since.

All that to say, if I didn't keep track, I wouldn't have known she wasn't giving me any eggs and I would still be down 6-7 eggs per week now. And given about half of my girls are not currently laying, that is pretty significant (and a waste of good chicken feed, vegetation and bugs!).


@duluthralphie I probably don't have as many birds as you do! In fact, I am VERY sadly down to 12. I found Athena, an EE hatched June last year, dead in front of the barn last night at 6:30. All 13 were, near as I could tell, looking fine at 6 PM. All out foraging. I don't know what happened, no marks on her and there had been no commotion. I did note that her crop was empty so she hadn't been eating yesterday. Something was likely wrong inside but I have no idea what.

 

[appps]

do you worry when they have a day off, or is it something you get used to? We've only been laying for a wk and only a few are laying now. Just trying to be able to plan better. Thx!

If I worried if mine missed a day I'd be a nervous wreck

Mine aren't all australorps but I've had months without a single egg at times and even now it's spring and alls going well I'm getting 2-4 eggs per day from 7 birds so lots of missed days from lots of them.

You would have a record breaker if you had one laid every single day without fail.

 

[bruceha2000]

Some people say their girls lay at the same time every day. Someone forgot to install the clock in my girls. They all lay early the first day after a day or more off then later the next day and later the next until they take a day off. Of course that means a nearly imperceptible change when they have a long streak.

Whoa, I just looked for my longest streak. Angel took yesterday off. She last had a day off on July 2nd. Yes, 68 days in a row. And I know for SURE they are hers, she puts some small "grooves" in one end of the shell. No other hen does that.