Is this a sign she may lay soon?

[danab]

My4 hens at around 24 weeks have not yet produced any eggs for me. Today I see a big difference in the color of my two EE hens. It looks like someone put lipstick on the combs of my girls. I know they were not that red yesterday.
Does anyone know if this could be a sign they will lay soon? I know you cant compare this picture to what it looked like before, but it was just a light pink a few days ago. Now it screams of red.

 

[farmin'chick]

She's cranking up her motors...24 weeks is right about on expected schedule for EE's, although all of mine were LATE this year in all breeds. If you have a nice nest box for her, throw some golf balls in it or some fake eggs, so she'll know where to put it.

 

[cw]

yes she will be laying soon if not now, theres no chance she has a hidden nest is there?
ours started laying and we didnt find 1 egg but an entire nest full, they had nest boxes but they didnt use at first

 

[danab]

Thanks for the reply cw and farminchick. My girls do have free range of a good size backyard all day long. I walk around everyday now looking for any eggs. It is possible that they could have laid and I just missed them. I am surprised that my two NJR's the same age have not laid yet. But both the EE girls are extremely red in both the comb and around the inside of the beak. I thought they would start laying by Christmas. Maybe tomorrow I will get a present from them.

 

[cw]

if there really red they are getting ready to drop egg, are barred rocks turned red then started layin like 3 day later, how long did you say they are red?

 

[danab]

Quote:
I just noticed them being this red today. They were not that red yesterday.

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

Pretty soon you are going to be overloaded with eggs!!

 

[danab]

Quote:
That would be such a great present for them to give me tomorrow.

 

[KandJsmama]

Are they squatting if you go to touch them or come up behind them quickly? My BSLs were red for about a week before they started squatting and then after about 4 days of squatting we got eggs.

 

[danab]

I don't believe it. One of my EE laid her first egg on Christmas morning. I keep one window in my coop open all the time. So all my hens jump out of it in the morning to get out. They wait inside the run until we let them out in the morning. Well today, one of the girls laid an egg after she got out of the coop, inside the run. But when we found it, it was smashed. I don't know if some of the chickens broke it. But the white and yolk were kinda spread around on the ground near the shell, the shell was pretty much in one piece, just smashed up. I picked up the shell, it was held together in one piece by the inside lining. So to me it looked like it had been dropped on the ground where it lay. I hope they did not decide to eat it. The color was a shade of light mint I would say.
I told everyone my chicks would be laying by Christmas.