First Egg Countdown

[kmollyhughes]

I have 14 pullets of varying breeds. RIR, LB, BA, SLW, Gold and Black Sexlinks. 3 days, 3 eggs. All the birds are the same age. It appears that the 3 eggs are from the same pullet. All 3 eggs are same size and color. Why aren't the others starting to lay?

Some lay early, some late. I have some chickens that laid a month or more after their sisters. Just depends on the bird. It'll happen.

 

[StephHSC]

I look every day too, a couple of times a day. I put some oyster shell in there and they went to town on it.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote: Yep. And some breeds are slower to mature, like Brahmas.

 

[MargaretYakoda]

Some lay early, some late. I have some chickens that laid a month or more after their sisters. Just depends on the bird. It'll happen.

Also some breeds tend to begin to lay early, and some tend to begin to lay late. Some chickens will lay as early as 16 weeks, but that's the far end of bell curve. The other end of the bell curve is twice that, at 32 weeks! (I think)
The bump of the bell curve is around 24 weeks.
This chart might be helpful as a guide, but remember there's variation even within breeds. http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/hendersonschickenchart.pdf

 

[kpsocalchicks89]

Checkin out the nestin box

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

My pullet Jenny started to lay her first eggs and I didn't even know I found her nest when I went looking for her apparently she's been laying for atleast 7days and decided to go broody =) hasn't been near a rooster for almost a month so I had to take them, but She's now sitting on 7 fertile d'uccle and buff Brahma bantam eggs, checked them this evening, nice and hot under her =) day one down 17~20 more to go =) hope she does well on her first setting/brooding. Tried to move her but she's not going for it, right back to hers in them tall private grass so unless we get a big temp drop I will let her stay there, u can't even see her in them pale grass even tho she's almost completely black.

 

[Junibutt]

Hi, I am posting this here since these are my first eggs from these chickens although they are not the chickens first eggs.

I adopted 2 chickens 4 days ago. One of them is a RIR but the other one is an unknown breed. Can anyone help me identify her? They are both about six months old and according to the original owner, the smaller one went broody already for a month in between, It seems like some sort of bantam but not really small and has a blue tail and some blue laced in her brown feathers. I know she probably is a cross-breed but just trying to figure out which ones

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Above is her picture with the RIR for size comparison.


Another view of her.


Also, both of these chicken laid strange eggs. One had a bullet shaped one and pretty long (it was not a double yolker though). The other one was a football shaped egg (seriously) with even markings on its sides. Could they have been fed something by the previous owner to get eggs that way? Or is it just Calcium deficiency. They skipped a day yesterday so I don't know if they will keep on laying same shaped eggs.

Egg # 1 is an extra large egg from my top hen Marcy whereas egg #5 (at the bottom) is a small sized egg from another of my hens for size comparison.
Egg # 2 & 3 are football shaped especially #3
Egg # 4 is the bullet shaped one. I accidentally cracked another one that was even longer.

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Thanks,

 

[Happy Chooks]

My pullet Jenny started to lay her first eggs and I didn't even know I found her nest when I went looking for her apparently she's been laying for atleast 7days and decided to go broody =) hasn't been near a rooster for almost a month so I had to take them, but She's now sitting on 7 fertile d'uccle and buff Brahma bantam eggs, checked them this evening, nice and hot under her =) day one down 17~20 more to go =) hope she does well on her first setting/brooding. Tried to move her but she's not going for it, right back to hers in them tall private grass so unless we get a big temp drop I will let her stay there, u can't even see her in them pale grass even tho she's almost completely black.

If you can move her at night, please do. Critters will be able to find her, and chickens cannot see in the dark.

Hi, I am posting this here since these are my first eggs from these chickens although they are not the chickens first eggs.

I adopted 2 chickens 4 days ago. One of them is a RIR but the other one is an unknown breed. Can anyone help me identify her? They are both about six months old and according to the original owner, the smaller one went broody already for a month in between, It seems like some sort of bantam but not really small and has a blue tail and some blue laced in her brown feathers. I know she probably is a cross-breed but just trying to figure out which ones

​

​

Above is her picture with the RIR for size comparison.


Another view of her.


Also, both of these chicken laid strange eggs. One had a bullet shaped one and pretty long (it was not a double yolker though). The other one was a football shaped egg (seriously) with even markings on its sides. Could they have been fed something by the previous owner to get eggs that way? Or is it just Calcium deficiency. They skipped a day yesterday so I don't know if they will keep on laying same shaped eggs.

Egg # 1 is an extra large egg from my top hen Marcy whereas egg #5 (at the bottom) is a small sized egg from another of my hens for size comparison.
Egg # 2 & 3 are football shaped especially #3
Egg # 4 is the bullet shaped one. I accidentally cracked another one that was even longer.

​

Thanks,

She's a mix, though it's hard to say what breeds. As for the eggs, I call those pullet bullets. Sometimes they come out that way. Each pullet has their own "style" to their eggs too.

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

She's inside the run with 8ft tall panels, about 6ft from nest boxes, she's a bantam. The only thing that could get in would be an owl at night in our area, the dog keeps everything else away. I did move her at night, twice but unless I confine her she leaves it to go back to her hole in the standing grass regardless of where/how many eggs are present, she just lays more and is content but they aren't fertile... So if letting her have "her" nest keeps her on my purebred eggs I'm happy, I have a wire medium sized dog kennel that I think I will put over the nest and weigh down, because I am worried about owls.

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

She's inside the run with 8ft tall panels, about 6ft from nest boxes, she's a bantam. The only thing that could get in would be an owl at night in our area, the dog keeps everything else away. I did move her at night, twice but unless I confine her she leaves it to go back to her hole in the standing grass regardless of where/how many eggs are present, she just lays more and is content but they aren't fertile... So if letting her have "her" nest keeps her on my purebred eggs I'm happy, I have a wire medium sized dog kennel that I think I will put over the nest and weigh down, because I am worried about owls.