Early layer

[Laurie11111]

I have a 14 week old pullet that has started laying eggs. I confirmed her hatch date with the person that I got her from. My question is, is early laying a sign of anything bad happening with my pullet? She is a blue layer pack chicken and had laid two light blue eggs.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Early laying does not always cause problems, but it mostly does. It puts stress on a pullet's body at such a young age and can cause her to have vent issues, or even prolapse. People breed chickens to lay eggs early in egg production breeds, but this is not good for their body. Keep an eye on her and make sure she is healthy.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The youngest I've ever had lay was 16 weeks. Those never had prolapse, internal laying, or egg-binding issues. Usually when a pullet starts laying that young the eggs are pretty small. They get bigger the longer she lays. That is nature's way of protecting them when they start to give their bodies and internal parts time to mature. Her early laying is not a death sentence or a guarantee of laying problems but with her immature body she is at some risk.

What are you feeding them, especially what protein content? Higher protein content generally means bigger eggs. Higher protein means bigger bodies also if fed while they are growing but your current risk is bigger eggs. I feed mine a 16% protein feed plus they forage for a lot of what they eat. I understand many people on this forum feel you are abusing your chickens if you don't feed them a very high protein content feed but I think the reason I have never had a chicken with prolapse, internal laying, or being eggbound has something to do with not feeding them a lot of extra protein.

 

[Laurie11111]

The youngest I've ever had lay was 16 weeks. Those never had prolapse, internal laying, or egg-binding issues. Usually when a pullet starts laying that young the eggs are pretty small. They get bigger the longer she lays. That is nature's way of protecting them when they start to give their bodies and internal parts time to mature. Her early laying is not a death sentence or a guarantee of laying problems but with her immature body she is at some risk.

What are you feeding them, especially what protein content? Higher protein content generally means bigger eggs. Higher protein means bigger bodies also if fed while they are growing but your current risk is bigger eggs. I feed mine a 16% protein feed plus they forage for a lot of what they eat. I understand many people on this forum feel you are abusing your chickens if you don't feed them a very high protein content feed but I think the reason I have never had a chicken with prolapse, internal laying, or being eggbound has something to do with not feeding them a lot of extra protein.

I am feeding them a grower feed but it has been blended recently with a layer feed. Can't remember the percentage off hand. I have only had one chicken that was egg bound but that was years ago. My other hen that laid early was a Black Star and died in October from reproductive organ cancer. She was 3 years old. The last month of her life she continued to lay eggs but none of them had shells. Just the membrane.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd expect a Grower or Layer to be fine. Both are probably 16% protein feeds. If they were 20% protein I'd be more concerned. Good luck!

 

[Laurie11111]

Update on my pullet Daisy. She laid three eggs yesterday. One was normal and then the other two were shell-less. That poor thing. I was hoping that she would not try to lay today but she is currently setting. I will keep her safe and happy but I fear that she will not have a very long life.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The egg laying process is pretty complicated. A lot of things have to go right for them to lay a perfect egg. Many pullets get something wrong when they first start laying but most of them straighten things out fairly soon. Don't totally give up hope yet but I agree, don't absolutely count on her straightening it out. 14 weeks is very young. Her age worries me more than anything else.

A pullet or hen should only release one yolk a day. There are different trigger mechanisms that tell her to release one to start the egg making process. The eggs should be laid during the day and it takes about 25 hours for the egg from releasing the yolk until the egg is laid. This can vary from hen to hen but 25 hours is a decent average. So one trigger to release a yolk is daylight. If a hen lays eggs on consecutive days another trigger is laying the egg to get the next one started. Since they want to lay an egg during the day instead of at night, late in the day is a trigger to not release an egg until the following morning.

Sometimes a hen messes up and releases two or more yolks at the same time. That can give you double or triple yolk eggs. If they are released at separate times you can get two or more eggs in one day. They share room in the shell gland so you can often see marks where they were touching in the shell gland.

A hen typically makes a limited amount of shell material each day, enough for one egg. If she lays two the same day the second egg is often thin-shelled or shell-less, like yours.

Most of my pullets get the egg laying thing correct from the start. The ones that don't (laying weird eggs, laying from the roost, etc.) tend to correct within a few days. The conventional wisdom on this forum (whatever that is worth) is to give her two weeks to straighten up before you get too excited about it.

I wish you good luck!

 

[RememberTheWay]

The youngest I've ever had lay was 16 weeks. Those never had prolapse, internal laying, or egg-binding issues. Usually when a pullet starts laying that young the eggs are pretty small. They get bigger the longer she lays. That is nature's way of protecting them when they start to give their bodies and internal parts time to mature. Her early laying is not a death sentence or a guarantee of laying problems but with her immature body she is at some risk.

What are you feeding them, especially what protein content? Higher protein content generally means bigger eggs. Higher protein means bigger bodies also if fed while they are growing but your current risk is bigger eggs. I feed mine a 16% protein feed plus they forage for a lot of what they eat. I understand many people on this forum feel you are abusing your chickens if you don't feed them a very high protein content feed but I think the reason I have never had a chicken with prolapse, internal laying, or being eggbound has something to do with not feeding them a lot of extra protein.

To be perfectly honest the quality of their feed has little to do with the actual percentage of protein. What is more important is the Amino Acids in their feed. You can feed less protein overall as long as they are getting the needed vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and amino acids. In my personal opinion amino acids are most important. And of course animal protein is much different then plant protein. Most feeds are made of plant proteins. Not sure why this is other then it's cheaper because NEWSFLASH- CHICKENS ARE CARNIVORES! At the very least they eat both making them omnivores but most of their diet when left to their own devices will be derived from bug and animal protein not plants. Anyways....just my two cents worth.

As for the original poster- I agree maybe look at diet and keep an eye on her. I would not say it is a definite death/sickness sentence but just pay attention and maybe make some minor changes to diet?

 

[Laurie11111]

The egg laying process is pretty complicated. A lot of things have to go right for them to lay a perfect egg. Many pullets get something wrong when they first start laying but most of them straighten things out fairly soon. Don't totally give up hope yet but I agree, don't absolutely count on her straightening it out. 14 weeks is very young. Her age worries me more than anything else.

A pullet or hen should only release one yolk a day. There are different trigger mechanisms that tell her to release one to start the egg making process. The eggs should be laid during the day and it takes about 25 hours for the egg from releasing the yolk until the egg is laid. This can vary from hen to hen but 25 hours is a decent average. So one trigger to release a yolk is daylight. If a hen lays eggs on consecutive days another trigger is laying the egg to get the next one started. Since they want to lay an egg during the day instead of at night, late in the day is a trigger to not release an egg until the following morning.

Sometimes a hen messes up and releases two or more yolks at the same time. That can give you double or triple yolk eggs. If they are released at separate times you can get two or more eggs in one day. They share room in the shell gland so you can often see marks where they were touching in the shell gland.

A hen typically makes a limited amount of shell material each day, enough for one egg. If she lays two the same day the second egg is often thin-shelled or shell-less, like yours.

Most of my pullets get the egg laying thing correct from the start. The ones that don't (laying weird eggs, laying from the roost, etc.) tend to correct within a few days. The conventional wisdom on this forum (whatever that is worth) is to give her two weeks to straighten up before you get too excited about it.

I wish you good luck!

Thank you for all the good info. I was planning on just watching and waiting. here's a photo of the egg she dropped into my hand. No shell just membrane.

 

[RememberTheWay]

Thank you for all the good info. I was planning on just watching and waiting. here's a photo of the egg she dropped into my hand. No shell just membrane.

Did it have two yolks in it? Looks like it might in the photo? Maybe I'm just seeing things!