So I have 5 Buff Orpington Hens, age 19 weeks. Got quite a surprise this morning, it seems that two of them had started laying already. Curious!!! :/ Is this normal??? With a majority of what I've read, it seems that they shouldn't start laying until around 24 weeks. Should I be concerned or just lucky?? . I also have three others (B.O.) now 16 weeks, all were suppose to be females, just found out this weekend that one discovered that she is in fact a "he", we now have a Rooster. Yes, he started crowing and doing his dance strut around the girlies. Would this have anything to do with girls laying so early??? If you get what I'm trying to say. . Oh, by the way, one of the girls was laying on her egg, so it appears her natural instinct told her what she should be doing, broke my heart to have to take away from her as she started looking for it, but I'm not looking for any more babies right now... I would like to read any input on this subject, as I am still quite new to this..... Thanks.
The numbers are just generalities. Just like "9 months" for a human baby...they come when they're ready Ours started at 20 weeks, others take 6 months or more. If they're laying early for you, especially with the shorter days...yaaayyy!! You have them on layer feed? They need extra protein and calcium for egg production. We started with ground oyster shell and then saved all the shells from the eggs. When the oyster shell ran out, we ground the eggshells (not to powder) and now offer those on a take as needed basis. To supplement protein, we give them all meat scraps, whatever cheese we have that's a bit old (if it's moldy I cut off the mold), including cottage cheese if it's only just starting to turn..nothing rotten, of course. I make yogurt for them (they love it) and often cook dried beans as well. They snarf it all down Since ours are pastured, we also offer free choice grit to keep their crops in good working order.
That's for the feed back. I haven't put them on the layer yet, they on still on 2nd stage food. But that was going to be my next question, if I should put them on the layer, now I don't have too. I'm going out this weekend to purchase the layer food. Any other tips are always welcomed, I would appreciate it.
