Getting ready to call Colonel Sanders

[BarnGoddess01]

It's been a particularly brutal summer in the north east. Most of the chickens that I know are seriously messed up this year. 22 weeks is NOT old. Give the girls a chance. Another couple of weeks, I'm betting RICH rewards will follow. (I have 12 that are 21 weeks old. Same boat. My 11 hens are either moulting or on strike for mysterious reasons. Out of 23 birds, I'm getting about 4 eggs a day ... )

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

22 weeks is just an average. it might take longer it might be shorter, theres nothing in the rule book saying they should be laying by now!
tell your husband to cool his jets!

 

[Atomic Ranch]

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I have two Delawares born April 15th, and they JUST started laying a couple of days ago. So yours should any time!

 

[gritsar]

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Amen. If you are talking about some of the heritage breeds or LF breeds, you're expecting too much of them too soon.

 

[klmclain1]

Patience.. patience... they, too, will come....

 

[stilldeb]

None of my chickens layed an egg before 26 weeks.

 

[Sphinx]

Quote:
Yep. Mine were all at least 26-28 weeks before they started laying.

 

[skhomer]

We're getting 2 eggs a day (with one 3 egg day last week) one in the morning and one in the afternoon -- I'm guessing they're from our Reds that were hatched 3/17 (25 weeks). The reds have nice red combs and wattles, while the Speckled Sussex of the same age have almost none. I swear we need an egg cam, we're forever guessing who did what and when the rest will follow. The very first egg was laid in the run, but the rest have been in the nest boxes. We got one extra large egg last week that turned out to be a double-yolk - otherwise the size and color are pretty consistent.

It's so hard to wait -- but all the experienced ones here on the forum say it will come. Just in time for cooler weather, so it may be next spring before we have a good idea what to expect. We added a light on a timer yesterday to extend the daylight time ....

The 3 egg day still puzzles me.

Good luck -- hope soon you have all the eggs you want!

 

[bertman]

Earlier this week I counseled patience with your girls since mine are 22 weeks and had not yet laid an egg.

NOT SO ANY MORE!!

Today we got our first egg from the youngest of our pullets, Goldie the Golden Sex Link. A cute little egg nestled in the straw in the nest box. So, YAAAAYYYY!!!!

Goldie had been squatting for a week and a half--just teasing us. Now she's our celebrity bird.

I counted the weeks again and discovered that she is 23 weeks old and the other girls are 24 weeks old.

Tonight when the girls were getting on the roost, Maybelline, our pearl Amerucana, who has been totally aloof and not the least interested in even letting us get close to her, jumped off the roost and walked right up to me and let me scratch her chest. Then, when I reached up to scratch her back she squatted and just squatted there while I scratched her back.

This is so cool.

Our chickens have been a real delight and a source of pleasure from the start, but this squatting and laying stuff is really the BEST yet.

In the words of the Immortal White, Winged Warrior, Chicken Man: Bok bok bok baaaaahhh!!!