I noticed that for the last few days when I let the flock out my BO hen runs straight to a spot underneath some plywood that is leaning against our shed. She comes out to run around and eat but she seems to spend a lot of time under there. It occurred to me yesterday that she's 14 weeks so Im wondering if she's getting ready to lay? She's on the young end so I hope it's a few more weeks but do they start preparing? I haven't put up the nest boxes yet... I'm going to do that after work today... Time got away from me and I didn't realize we were getting kinda close to laying age! Other things I've noticed about her: her comb and eye area are definitely getting much more red. Her behavior has also changed. She has never really liked to be held but now but she seems overly upset about getting petted and held. Do you guys think she might be getting ready and are there any other behaviors should I be on the lookout for?
No, she's way too young to be laying yet. Give her another month and a half to 2 months and she'll be about the right age to start.
Good to know... That's more the timeline I had been expecting but after searching the forums yesterday people were saying 18 to 22 weeks with some as early as 14 to 16 weeks so I thought it was possible she might be starting gear up and be one of those early layers!
