First Egg Question

[JJCENTRAL]

I have 4 hens (3 Buff orpingtons and 1 Barred Rock) and they are 20 weeks old. 4 days back I noticed one of them making the egg song and found two eggs on the nest box. I assumed they are going to start laying from that point on, but its been 4 days and they haven't laid any egg. Is is normal for chickens to take a break after their first egg or the weather or lack of day light has to do anything? I live in Maryland and it got to 50 deg this week. We still have 13 hours of sun light. Thank you.

 

[Incukahlan]

When chickens first start laying everything is up in the air. They can lay an egg one day and not lay again for another week. So that is completely normal. Nothing to worry about. Until they have been laying for about a month, you will not be able to predict their schedule. Sometimes they kick right into gear, most times it takes awhile. Are you providing lay crumbles? We always do a 50/50 ratio of starter crumble and layer pellets/crumble when the girls are about 16 weeks old. To get the Layer nutrients into their system to give them a boost come point of lay. Once they have been laying consistently for a few weeks, or a month we then switch them to straight Lay crumble/pellets. That's our trick and it seems to work pretty good. They still need the starter before they start laying, and when they first start laying because they are of course still pullets and still growing. With providing both Starter and Lay crumble they are getting absolutely all the vitamins and nutrients they need to not only continue to grow but to start laying as well. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

 

[travis5292]

I have a red sexlink that began laying on August 18th, and has laid every day since. Her eggs are small, but are starting to increase in size. She has absolutely not taken a day off yet. It took about 2 weeks before others began to follow, and they have been sporadic. My white leghorn, who laid her first egg a few days ago, has only given me one other egg. My RIR has given me 3, her third being a big one. They are ALL different and it does take some time to get the assembly line running full steam ahead.

 

[TheReadyBoys]

Give her a little bit to get used to laying. Everything is new to them, and they need to get used to it. You'll be getting tons of eggs in no time!

 

[JJCENTRAL]

Thank you for the answers, They are laying pretty regularly now. They all started to lay and I get 2-3 eggs from 4 chickens daily. Very happy with the eggs.