First Egg Countdown

[KelsiNS]

Most hens don't lay while molting, so I wouldn't expect any eggs from them until they are finished with their molt.
Sorry to say, you have a while to wait yet.

They're killing me! 22 or 23 weeks old, Alice squats, Rosie is making nests in the boxes...one minute theyre red and the next they look pale. Bah!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Well, maybe they will surprise you. If they are that old, it should be any time.

 

[SixFizzle]

Pacing is a great sign! Fingers crossed!

Thanks! Fingers and toes crossed here too!

 

[MandalaMaMa]

My girls STILL haven't started laying and we are leaving town this weekend for 2 wks. I just know they are going to start while I'm gone. Going to miss all the fun. My neighbors are looking forward to watching the girls for me. They use to have chickens so know what's going on. My buff Orpington's is 23 wks now and the other five are 20 wks. I have a New Hampshire, Delaware who's really been talking, a silver Wyandotte and 2 Easter Eggers. This wkend I put fresh rice hulls in their hen house and that always gets them all excited. You should have heard them. Though maybe that would jump start someone with all the excitement. But NO nothing yet.

 

[LadyCluck77]

My girls STILL haven't started laying and we are leaving town this weekend for 2 wks. I just know they are going to start while I'm gone. Going to miss all the fun. My neighbors are looking forward to watching the girls for me. They use to have chickens so know what's going on. My buff Orpington's is 23 wks now and the other five are 20 wks. I have a New Hampshire, Delaware who's really been talking, a silver Wyandotte and 2 Easter Eggers. This wkend I put fresh rice hulls in their hen house and that always gets them all excited. You should have heard them. Though maybe that would jump start someone with all the excitement. But NO nothing yet.

Do they look ready? Are the wattles developed and the faces red, and do they squat for you? Typically that's my best indicator.

I do have a pullet with all the good "red" traits but she's still not giving up any eggs!

 

[ohju1ia]

I feel like I'm going to grow old waiting for my first egg. I have 2 barred rocks and 2 white rocks that are 25 weeks old, a white leghorn, a rhode island red, and 2 EE that are 17 weeks old. The white rocks have red waddles and a nice sized red comb, the barred rocks still look like they are a ways off. I know EE can wait a while to lay, but some leghorns start early. They need to get busy!!!

 

[CarolinaIsland]

I kept waiting and whining to my husband that my girls weren't laying yet and then I caught my biggest EE squeezing her fat behind out from under my shed.
I closed off the shed last night with 4x6s and sure enough this morning they were going crazy, trying to find a way under it.
I kept putting her in the nest box to no avail. She wanted to lay under the oil tank. Then under the barbecue. No, NO! I closed everything off until she had no choice but to go into the nest box. Within 30 minutes I had my first pretty green egg

By the end of the day, I had three more!

 

[cascaderox]

I got my first egg yesterday and Im waiting for my egg today. It was a shame that I missed what hen layed it. One squats every time I go to pick her up and one spends a lot of time in the nesting box. I just let them out and boom they layed an egg on the path when I left.

 

[SoManyHats]

We got our first egg today!!! A couple days ago, one of my Barred Rock's started squatting, and a Black Austraulorp started "practicing" the egg song. I figured it was time to open the nest box, so this morning I went to town to get some straw. When I got back, someone had laid a tiny egg on the coop floor.

Not sure which one did it, but the one standing near it growling was not the one that was squatting or the one singing- she is the one who has been a nasty bit** the last week or so. Then once I opened the nest box and put straw in it, the BR that's been squatting got immediately in it, sat in the golf balls and started throwing the straw over her back. Sooo cute! But no more eggs today. More tomorrow, I hope!

 

[Maggiesdad]