eggs starting...

[K-9Dog]

new here and new to chickens too - i have Rhode island reds - only 2 at the moment. lost a hen in 112 degrees heat. too bad.

anyway - I got an egg over the weekend. found another then too. so hopefully they are both hens and not a rooster though the one is very aggressive. maybe i miised the first one in the A.M. - maybe both laid. since then - no eggs. at the beginning do they start and continue daily or do they start and stop until they get production going?


also - anyone in the clarksville, TN area have 2 young pullets. TSC and rural king and co-op will not have anymore until Spring. 3-4 is ideal for me and my family.

thank you.

 

[K-9Dog]

any nibbles to this start and stoppage?

 

[Cotton42]

It can take some time for everything to get working properly, and even then most hens will take a day off every few days. It's also been super hot and that can slow down laying too. Give them some time and soon you'll be overrun with eggs! Congrats! And if you're looking for more chickens, I suggest looking on craigslist.com.

 

[theoldchick]

Give 'em another month or so to get things worked out. I've had young pullets lay their first egg then lay nothing for two weeks. Make sure the diet is appropriate for laying pullets.

 

[K-9Dog]

Ok - thank you! I did not think anything was really wrong; but had no clue and never read anything about a sputtering beginning in the laying cycle.

I called meyer's and the shipping for 3-4 chicks was almost $40. ridiculous.

 

[K-9Dog]

got one more today and waiting to see if the other one lays - so I guess it is normal to sputter at the beginning of laying.

 

[jeep381]

I have 6 pullets that are about 18 weeks old and four out of 6 are laying an egg a day. At first they laid rubber eggs, and a soft shell egg today, probably from one new to egg laying, but if you are feeding them layer feed, oyster shell and I also feed mine scratch feed and some cracked corn, they probably all should start to lay eggs.
Mine laid an egg and missed a day. They just started laying about 10 days ago. I am hoping one of mine isn't a rooster too. i've been told it might be.

Also, I put a fan in the pen with them, it's been in the low 100's for days now.