First Egg Countdown

[ronott1]

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My Australorps started at 22 weeks and I still have two of five to start at 24 weeks.

You should have an egg soon!

Ron

Thanks Ron for the info! I had heard that they were late layers and some not laying till nearly 6 months old. But the waiting is killing me!! I have 2 girls that have very bright red combs and wattles, faces also. But no squatting for me, no investigating the nest boxes or anything like that yet. These are my first chickens and I can barely take the waiting for that first egg!!

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Yes! I looked up the start of laying and it said 5 to six months was the average for Australorps.

The good news is they are less likely to have laying problems. They usually lay longer than the early laying breeds like the Red Stars.

Mine started laying two weeks after the egg squat. They started laying a bit less than a week after they started ripping up the nesting boxes.

Good luck!

Ron

 

[SIMPleChick]

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First of all...why did you whack it against the wall???? LOL! Tap a finger nail against it next time!

 

[audrey02026]

I really thought it was a wooden egg....and freely admit it was stupid. Although i'm not too broken up about it ha ha ha. There will be more where that came from.

 

[audrey02026]

I have a quick question. Yesterday i got my 1st egg. I thought it was from my 20 week old BR, All of my seven hens look physically ready but this one squats for me all the time for the past few weeks. Today I was watching tv and I heard what I thought was a dog in pain and I immediately ran outside as i let my chickens free range while i'm home. I found my BR singing the egg song and she came out of the little ones coop. I checked the coop and nothing. Looked around a little nothing. Looked in the big coop nothing then she started singing the song again and went back in the little coop...still nothing. I went to refresh the nesting boxes in her coop she went inside and in boxes but nothing? Did she the the egg and its outside somewhere or is it normal for the egg song with no egg yet? Does that mean she will lay it soon??

 

[melroseladi]

I got my first egg yesterday afternoon by Lizzie my 19 week old second generation RSL. She laid it in the nesting box next to a plastic easter egg I had put in there. Lizzie is not that red, still has a smallish comb, and never squatted for me, and still does not submit to Jake our rooster. I was expecting her hatchmate to lay first since she is much redder and her comb is larger then Lizzie's, although Lizzie is larger in size then Lucy is.

So I am still waiting on Lucy, second generation RSL, 19 weeks old
Thelma and Louise who are 20 week old barred rocks
Ruby who is a RI cross and is 15 weeks old
Diamond and Pearl who are 15 week old BSLs

The egg was a decent size, bigger then I was expecting. The easter egg I put in there is a medium size egg, not one of the smaller ones. I did have a large plastic egg in the box but changed it because I was afraid the size might scare them.

edited to add: She did not sing any egg song and she did not bawk before, during, or after laying the egg. I was outside watching her and after she laid the egg she got out of the nest then reached in and was grabbing the shavings and tossing them on her back. That was it.

 

[Baxter's Chickens]

I will join in. We have two Jersey Giants, one Dominique, and one Ameraucana. They are all 21 weeks old. Can't wait!!!

 

[sdeneen2001]

19 weeks, no eggs

combs and waddles are getting bigger and redder on the Gold Stars and Delawares, SS are still pink, EE has NO comb, but is getting redder in the face. Joy (DE) has been squatting for 3 weeks, Goodness (GS) squatted for me today. Nobody else squatted, couldn't get near enough to the EE, she hates me. I'm WAITING.... I should probably break down and go buy eggs...

I have 2 Gold Stars, 2 Delawares, 2 Speckled Sussex, and one EE <--

 

[Velvet Hairpiece]

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I'm sure as soon as you go and buy eggs, somebody will start laying!

 

[CarolynF]

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Well folks, it took almost another 2 weeks, but this morning I found this lovely little brown egg in the nest box next to my EE's green egg! I'd sort of given up and dug in for the long haul!

It was very exciting, I had to run and get my camera and tell DH and our 2 little granddaughters. Everyone had to run out and look for themselves! I weighed the big green egg, it came in at an even 2 ounces. The little brown jewel was 1.15 ounces with a nice firm shell. I can't wait to see if there's another tomorrow.

I don't know her precise age, probably about 25 weeks. She's been doing a MAJOR big girl squat for the past week. Yesterday when I opened the pen door, before I even moved in her direction she gave me a huge, elbows out squat!

And I discovered she'd been practicing in the nest box the past couple of days. Just for fun I'd fluff up the straw then an hour or two later I'd see it was rearranged--did it 2 or 3 times. It was pretty funny! Since my EE was the only other layer and she never does that, I knew it was Pearl.

Thank you pretty Pearl!!!

 

[Nematocyst]

I think my egg countdown can begin, as I have 5 hens that are now almost 17 weeks... 1 Welsummer, 2 EE's, 1 Speckled Sussex, and 1 Polish. Any ideas on whether these are early/late layers? I think that the Welsummers are supposed to be later, but so far, she's the one who looks the closest to laying! Red face, wattles, etc.