Eggs?

[Soot the silkie]

My olive eggers are about twenty one weeks old, and one (the frizzle in picture below) has been squatting for awhile, but they seem really small to lay eggs. They weigh a maximum of three pounds, and I think that's small, since I've only had barred rocks that were six pounds at this age. Is this normal? Do they get any bigger? I'm very OCD about my birds.

These are the birds on a perch they like by a window.

 

[GitaBooks]

Very pretty birds!

This is the perfect age for them to start laying!

Their eggs will start out small at first.
However, if your hen keeps squatting but never lays an egg, she could be egg bound (unable to lay the egg).

Best of luck to you!

 

[Soot the silkie]

Ok. Wait, are there to kinds of egg bound-ness because the way you put it seems like her body can't form an egg, but what I've heard it's where their egg gets stuck inside them because they are fat.

 

[GitaBooks]

I meant that she couldn't lay the egg because it was stuck. This may be because the egg is soft shelled, she is fat, the egg is malformed, or her muscles aren't strong enough.

 

[Soot the silkie]

I meant that she couldn't lay the egg because it was stuck. This may be because the egg is soft shelled, she is fat, the egg is malformed, or her muscles aren't strong enough.

Oh ok. Could she die of it? She's very thin and seems healthy.

 

[aart]

Some birds are smaller bodied than others....barred rocks are pretty big birds.

Let's not jump to the conclusion that because a bird is squatting but hasn't laid at 21 weeks (and it small bodied) that it's egg bound.
That's just bad advice.

They can squat for several weeks before laying.

 

[GitaBooks]

Some birds are smaller bodied than others....barred rocks are pretty big birds.

Let's not jump to the conclusion that because a bird is squatting but hasn't laid at 21 weeks (and it small bodied) that it's egg bound.
That's just bad advice.

They can squat for several weeks before laying.

I didn't mean that she was egg bound, I know that hens learning to lay do that, I was just making sure it wasn't that problem.

Thanks for the advise, though.

 

[Soot the silkie]

Thanks for the advise, guys!