Is it possible for a 13 week old pullet to start laying?

[graphicali]

I have a little Silkie cross Marans (we think) pullet who we have named Tina. Her foster mum went broody again several weeks after Tina hatched, so we gave her some eggs to sit on.

Tina was helping her foster mum hatch out the eggs. The eggs are due to hatch in the next few days, so we took her out of the broody coop and put her in with the rest of the flock about a week ago.

She has settled in really well and I had found her a few times sat in a nest box but not thought it unusual, then yesterday I found a tiny egg in there, today there was another. My other hens are much older, they have all been laying normal sized eggs for a long time. Is it possible that it came from Tina?

I am trying to figure out how to set up a trail camera in the coop in order to found out whodunnit but having problems fixing it to the inside wall.

I am a bit worried, she is such a tiny thing!

 

[sjturner79]

I have a little Silkie cross Marans (we think) pullet who we have named Tina. Her foster mum went broody again several weeks after Tina hatched, so we gave her some eggs to sit on.

Tina was helping her foster mum hatch out the eggs. The eggs are due to hatch in the next few days, so we took her out of the broody coop and put her in with the rest of the flock about a week ago.

She has settled in really well and I had found her a few times sat in a nest box but not thought it unusual, then yesterday I found a tiny egg in there, today there was another. My other hens are much older, they have all been laying normal sized eggs for a long time. Is it possible that it came from Tina?

I am trying to figure out how to set up a trail camera in the coop in order to found out whodunnit but having problems fixing it to the inside wall.

I am a bit worried, she is such a tiny thing!

At 13 weeks a silkie could be fully grown and laying, esp if she's been co-brooding to give her hormones an early kikstart

 

[graphicali]

This is the girl, you can see how small she is compared to one of our "normal" sized hens. She is very speedy and not keen on being picked up or cornered. She isn't particularly scared of us, just likes to be independent. She isn't scared of any of the big chooks either! I just never thought of a chicken being ready for laying so young. I didn't realise that Silkies matured earlier than other breeds. Thank for the reassurance.

 

[sjturner79]

This is the girl, you can see how small she is compared to one of our "normal" sized hens. She is very speedy and not keen on being picked up or cornered. She isn't particularly scared of us, just likes to be independent. She isn't scared of any of the big chooks either! I just never thought of a chicken being ready for laying so young. I didn't realise that Silkies matured earlier than other breeds. Thank for the reassurance.

Not all silkies do - a 13 week old silkie laying is as common as an 11 year reaching puberty- so it not common but not extremely rare. There is someone on another thread with a 10 week old laying. It is amazing the size difference between a full grown silkie and a full grown RIR. The RIR is 3x the size