Buff Orphingtons ?? When will I see the first egg?

[montanachicks]

I'm fairly new to the backyard chicken business. I "adopted" 6 young Buff Orphington hens -- got them on July 8th -- and the lady told me that they were 5 months old at the time. Going on two months now that I have had them, they are healthy as can be and happy, but still have not seen the first egg from any of them. I have other chickens-- "backyard variety" -- they are all laying. My chickens are kept in their very large, fenced in area, during the day and evenings I let them out to roam for awhile. They are not "hiding" the eggs anywhere, I go on a search every day! Is there someone out there that is familiar with this breed and what their laying habits are? I might mention that twice in less than 2 weeks, I have gone to the nests and found a tiny egg -- brown in color-- measured them both times and they are 1-1/8 inch long (they are the size of a robins egg or pigeon). I don't know where these are coming from! -- Help, Please and thank you!

 

[daver]

Mine took 26 weeks to lay.

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Mine are 17 weeks and no egg yet.

 

[montanachicks]

so maybe I will be seeing something soon..... I hope so, anyway! thanks for your reply. Any ideas on where those tiny eggs could be coming from?

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

so maybe I will be seeing something soon..... I hope so, anyway! thanks for your reply. Any ideas on where those tiny eggs could be coming from?

Probably the one of the BO's. I have read that the first eggs will be small and maybe sparadic in laying.

 

[PeachygirlGA]

I have 4 BO and they have not been good layers. At one time we would get 2 eggs a day or sometimes 3 on a really good day. Now I'm lucky to get 1 egg every other day. Some are molting right now so I'm hoping they start laying again! Good luck with yours and hope you get some eggs soon. I'm waiting on 4 little ones to lay. When I got my BO they were already laying so don't know about the tiny eggs.

 

[duckinnut]

Of my 3 buffs that are 17 months now came into POL at very different times. One at 20 wks, one at 24 and the last at 29 weeks. Every breed is different as is every bird. Not known to be prolific layers but lay very large pinkish brown eggs. I get 3/4 a week from each of mine on average.

 

[miamor]

Hello, we have 2 BO's and they are about 22 weeks old, no eggs yet

Was looking to start giving them the idea to lay soon in their boxes. I've read that it's a good idea to find a few wooden eggs or plastic easter eggs (fill with sand) and put in the nesting boxes. Any suggestions of where to find wooden eggs? My kids have a few in their play kitchen but they are on the small side, does that matter? Could I use those?

Thanks and good luck with laying!

-Linette

 

[thebanthams]

If you cant find wooden eggs you can used golf balls! I know its silly but it works!! By the way Do you have Walmart? sometimes they have fake eggs in the crafts department.

 

[miamor]

Thanks for the suggestions! The closest Walmart is about 15 miles away. I just went online to mypetchicken, and ordered a cute wire egg basket that comes with 12 wooden eggs

. Have a great day!