How do I know if my SS's will start laying soon?

[lillypurrs23]

Do they ALWAYS squat when you put your hand over them? Or is it only sometimes? Because Nellie won't squat all the time.
Cool, so one of them will probably start laying within the next few weeks! I'm so excited!

Oh, and I was wondering what golf balls do? I've heard people put them in there for some reason?

 

[lillypurrs23]

Ariel (pic #4) squatted today! So then I pet Nellie (pic#1&2) and she squats too, and so i'm petting her, and she's all squatted down, and she looked really creepy. She stuck her butt up too. Is that natural?

 

[Kathleen1115]

We have 6 -- all 21 weeks and two are laying. With our first layer (an Ameracauna/EE who started at 19 weeks), it was the squat that was the sign -- she was the first to do it and started about a week before she started laying. But she has a tiny pea comb and almost no wattle, so that wasn't a good sign. She did a lot of nesting for a few days before too and got really ticked off if any of the others came near her when she was in the box. With the second (a Gold-laced Wyandotte who started at 21 weeks) it was the comb and wattle -- hers is the reddest and largest -- but she doesn't squat for me at all and showed no interest in the nesting boxes until the day she laid her first egg -- and kicked up a huge fuss about it. It was a total shock to me that she was second. Of our other four who haven't started laying, the Buff Orpingtons are squatting, have good sized combs, but they're pink still and not very red -- but they're constantly in and out of the boxes. I think they may be next. The RIR just squatted for the first time today but her comb is only medium red and I don't think she's ready. The Partridge Rock is the biggest, has a good size wattle and comb, doesn't really squat but is pretty interested in the boxes.

So, I think the real message is -- they're all heading in that direction, some time between now and a month or so will start laying, and you may notice behaviors and physical changes before they start laying. Or not! Frankly, I don't know what I'll have to obsess over once all of mine start laying!

 

[catdaddy66]

I have had speckled sussex birds in the past but lost them at 10 weeks, so no eggs were laid. Your girls are maturing but it looked like the combs/wattles were not yet red enough to indicate full maturity. It should not take very long til the time of eggs is here. They are beautiful birds I must say!!

Please don't quote me on the info above...I am no SS expert by any means, but I have read and been told that the redness is quite pronounced at laying age. Think crimson lipstick!

 

[lillypurrs23]

Thanks! They're going to be 20 weeks the day after tomorrow - I feel better when I know what age people had theirs start laying at.
I went out to the coop a little bit ago, and Nellie (pic #1&2) had been scratching around in the first nesting box, so it was shaped a bit like a nest! She looked like she was going to sit in it, too!
Edit:
I went out to bring them some pomegranates, and she was laying in it. (Not laying an egg, just laying down) She wouldn't leave the nesting box to eat them, and wouldn't eat them when I put a handful in front of her. I have no clue if this could be an egg song: bwuuuk bwuk bwuk bwuk bwuk bwuk bwuk bwuuuk. She kept doing that.

 

[lillypurrs23]

She laid an egg! YAY!!!!!!!!
Between 6 and 7 pm!!!!!!!
it's in the middle:

 

[Kathleen1115]

Congrats!! In response to your earlier question, we put golf balls in the nesting boxes to give them the idea that it would be a good place to lay and so far it seems to have worked. None of our girls even went near the boxes until we put the golf balls in there and since most all go visit. The two who are laying usually make sure the golf balls are under them while they nest.

 

[Tartannik]

Hehe I am loving how everyone gets as excited as I do about the first egg!!! Congrats to Nellie!!

 

[catdaddy66]

 

[lillypurrs23]

Great, I put a golf ball in one of the nesting boxes!

It's hard not to be excited about your chickens first egg!

Wow, I was surprised that she laid it at night! Hopefully, now that Ariel is squatting, she'll start laying too!