How red is red?

[schambo]

I frequently read that when a pullet’s comb gets nice and red they’re getting close to laying, but how red am I looking for? This 16 week BR is hard to catch, and doesn’t like to be handled, so checking her vent or bones isn’t really practical, but I’m curious to know how far from laying she might be.

 

[schambo]

She’s a pretty big girl; she already looks considerably bigger than my 2y/o bovans brown.

 

[aart]

and doesn’t like to be handled, so checking her vent or bones isn’t really practical,

Take them off the roost at night after dark, much easier to 'catch' then.
Tho that might be difficult in the tiny coop in the background.

She looks fairly red, could be soon, or another couple-few weeks.

 

[Mrs. K]

I figure 4 weeks from the time they are that color. However, it is perfectly reasonable to hope that it is sooner! I am doing that my self right now.

 

[schambo]

Update: She laid her first (two!) eggs today, almost a month after this post! A shell-less one, and a little one that she laid from the roosting bar that splatted on the coop floor.