Is it normal for chickens to "start and stop" when beginning laying?

[welovechickens]

Please pardon my dummy questions.....I have raised many batches of baby chicks, but have never raised chickens to adulthood and into the egg-laying stage!

My Japanese Buff Bantam (22 weeks tomorrow (Wednesday)) laid her first egg last Wednesday. No problems at all. She laid another (smaller) egg on Thursday. She hasn't laid anymore since then. I figured they would skip a day or two every once in awhile for whatever reason, but a week?!

My Ameraucana (also 22 weeks tomorrow), OTOH, started laying last week on Tuesday, and has only skipped 2 days since then! (the weekend....I'll give her that! LOL)

Baby (bantam) acts totally normal, jumps, runs, climbs on me, eats/drinks well, etc...I am assuming everything is ok with her and her "egg machine" is just taking extra time to get "in sync".

It's horrendously hot here (100+ every day for the last 45+ days) which I know can affect egg-laying. We have a fan on them 24/7, and a small set of misters running into the corner of their (large) run during the day.

Does everything sound ok so far? Anything I should watch for as far as egg-binding or anything?

Thanks!

 

[gritsar]

It's perfectly normal for their egg laying schedule to be erratic at first. Also, no two hens are alike. One may lay consistently from the start, while another starts and stops.

 

[norcal]

Thanks for asking this question, as I was wondering too.

We had our first egg laid yesterday (broken & eaten unfortunately), I must've checked the coop 8 times today (nothing). Unfortunately I can't nonchalantly walk to the coop/run. They all see me coming down the hill, and they all get excited & RUN to greet me (treats!!).

I would give them more privacy, but want to get the egg before it's eaten.

 

[Judy]

Yup, takes them a few weeks to get settled down, and even longer to get the eggs up to adult size. If they're laying in the nest boxes, you're ahead of the game!