Barred Rocks in Washington State

[BarredRockChic]

One of my girls laid her first eggs yesterday! 22 weeks old on the nose! I'm not sure if she laid both eggs or if she chased the first hen out and laid one in the same nest. Anyone have any idea if one chicken may have laid both eggs? As you can see, one egg is much smaller than the other!

 

[mlwascom]

Welcome!

They only lay one egg a day, so you have two laying now! Did you hear them "sing" their egg laying song? My hens love to go on and on when they lay eggs!

 

[BarredRockChic]

I think I did hear them singing! LOL wasn't sure what all the noise was! Now today they haven't laid anything yet, I am waiting with baited breath to see which girl lays one!

 

[mlwascom]

While they are young they may skip a day while laying. But they will surely let you know when they have laid an egg! Mine get quite noisy after laying!

 

[BarredRockChic]

Trying to figure out why one hen is so much more delayed in her maturity than the other two. I bought all three on the same day from the same location and two of them have nicely developed combs that are bright red while she is smaller and her comb is underdeveloped and only pink. Any suggestions? The two in the first picture are already laying daily but the hen all by herself is still not showing signs of being able to lay yet.

 

[TwoCrows]

Not all birds develop at the same rate. Are they about 25 weeks old now? She should be laying at this point. Is she getting enough to eat? If she is being bullied away from the feeder from one of the other birds, she will develop slower. I raised some Barred Rock chicks this year as well. I have one chick that is smaller than the others and while she is laying now, she does get chased from the feeders and is sometimes afraid to eat. I put out several feeding and watering stations so she is sure to eat enough. Go watch them and see how she is treated around the others. Put out extra feeders if you need to.

Good luck with your BR's!

 

[BarredRockChic]

Thank you for your input TwoCrows, I did watch them for quite some time yesterday and the other two girls don't seem to bother her when I am out there. What I did observe is she eats constantly while the others run around and scratch. And when all three of them are running around the yard, they stick close to her, one on either side of her as if protecting her. I don't sense any hostility, in fact the two big girls peck at each other and not her. In their established pecking order she is last, always the last to go into the coop at night and last to get out in the morning. I think she may just be slow, which is fine with me, I just don't want her to have something major wrong with her. If she doesn't lay eggs it's not that big of a deal, I just want her to be happy.

 

[liz9910]

 

[BarredRockChic]

One of my BR's laid a strange egg this morning, thought I would share a picture with you all. It appears to be speckled, I'm assuming there is nothing wrong with the hen that laid it, just the coloring wasn't solid rose colored like normal, it can out speckled!