So our 20 and 23 week olds pullets are not the least bit interested in their lovely little nesting boxes. Just want to come and scrounge treats from us...not a single egg yet. The 13 week old cockerels on the other hand do everything they can to defeat gates and sneak into the young gals side and get in those nesting boxes to roost....despite having lovely roosting on their side. I guess the grass is always greener.....
Oh I be they are interested, just not when you're looking I have a camera in my coop and I watch them peer into them all the time, having group conversations on which one is better (I had 3 hens in one nest once), and some even trying them out for about 4 weeks before one finally did the deed. For the first egg when I first noticed my RIR in the nest, it took 1.5 hours and 3 periods of sitting between two nest boxes to finally push one out. That was at 23 weeks and a few days. She laid her fourth egg today, and here's her table WK Date Time 23 9/20 >2pm egg 23 9/21 11:29am egg 23 9/22 -- break -- 23 9/23 7:30am egg 24 9/24 8:19am egg My other two? Freeloaders..., but getting closer!
Okay, I am feeling a little better now, thanks. Waiting for eggs is just like incubating all over again!
My EE were 32 and 35 weeks old before they started to lay... My other girls (RIRI, BR, BO, True Ameraucanas )were 25-31 weeks old...