Chicks / Eggs

[happyrooster]

How old are chicks when they start to lay??

 

[Illia]

Anywhere from 17 weeks to 12 months old. Depends on breed and strain.

 

[happyrooster]

What breeds start to lay the earliest and are medium to high producers??

 

[CarolJ]

I think leghorns and production breeds (sex links) start laying the earliest - and lay the most, too.

 

[Illia]

The best bet is to go with Sex-Links (hybrid) Australorps, Production Reds (often sold as Rhode Island Reds) and Leghorns. All moderately early layers of a lot of eggs.


But really, any common breed/strain will lay a lot of eggs, otherwise they wouldn't sell well. Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, Easter Eggers, Silver Laced Wyandottes, etc.

 

[BooneChicks]

pictures of the chicken in question would help and make us happy!

 

[ChickenPrnces]

What about cochin bantams? How old do hey start??

 

[StarLover21]

Quote:
Late, sorry. They're more slower maturing. Maybe 25-30 weeks old?

 

[RedDrgn]

One of ours started at 24.5 weeks. The other four haven't done a darn thing yet and they're now 26 weeks. Varies depending on breed, time of year, general health, environment, and individual chicken. Supposedly, you won't see anything before 17-18 weeks, and even then usually only with production-oriented birds.

 

[happyrooster]

Thanks for the input, I think I should ask my buddy if he is ready to start putting eggs in his incubator, I have 7 Rhode island reds and 1 leg horn he hatched last spring and they are laying very good and some big eggs, I hope he is ready.