maybe they're laying now?

[Chickens in Elmwood]

fellow hillbilly! From where in WV are you?

I have always heard that Wyandottes start to lay later than other breeds (I saw you have SLWs), but my SLW was the 4th out of 10 chickens to lay. My GLW is NO WHERE near laying still. YIKES!

I started mixing chick starter with layer crumbles at about 16 or so weeks, but mine don't really eat a lot of "chicken feed" - they eat chicken scraps (like yours do

) and my neighbors bring stuff over ALL the time for them to eat. They are cute, friendly little things, after we sent the roo to freezer camp.

Anyway, at 16 weeks, I mixed a 50 lb bag of starter with a 50 lb bag of layer feed and threw in some whole oats (because they LOVE them). Mine also get yogurt about once a week. You should give that a try, they LOVE it!

None of mine started laying until my egg-machine white leghorn started laying at about 20 ish weeks. Then I think the RIRs saw what she was doing and COULDN'T be outdone. Then one of the BOs started laying, then the SLW, and then the other BO. I actually forget how old they are now, but they were hatched April 6th, so I am guessing around 24 weeks now.

Unfortunately, I think you probably still have a little while to go.

 

[aimeeinwv]

OK - so I was wrong earlier.. he doesn't give them layer feed. It's the inbetween starter and layer.. thank goodness I asked first!!!

Elmwood... I'm in Teays Valley. We have a few acres here to play on, love it! Glad to finally be someplace where I can have some room and get some farm animals. I bought my great grandpa's property from my uncle. Only got a few acres of it, but it's large by the standards in this area now. Oh and Yes!!! my girls do get yogurt. A big fat pail of it comes with the lunch lady food. They send a couple quarts. So yummy!!! Love to see the "mustaches". They love love love it!!

They were hatched on May 20th, so we actually should only be a few weeks off from eggs if they are on time. They are 17 1/2 weeks now. We'll have to see I suppose. Turkey Girl sure acted today like she was interested, just acting a little unusual in morning.

I am thinking my Roo's are gonna have to go to freezer camp if they don't quit acting so aggressive toward my girls!!! Nice to meet you!!!!

 

[Chickens in Elmwood]

ha! We are not that far away! I am from the just south of Huntington. Yay! We have virutally NO land, but I have found enough room for 10 laying hens and 4 mini-nubian goats.

Would love to have about 10 or 15 acres. Maybe someday.

Yup, if they are 17.5 weeks, you should not have much time to wait. It's SO exciting when you get the first one! Wait, every one after that is pretty exciting, too.

 

[aimeeinwv]

We are pretty excited. I have never had laying hens.. only a few roosters a fellow gave me once. They're pretty fun for sure!!! We're hoping the girls will do well over the winter. Going to make sure they have plenty of light and some heat too

Getting ready to build a big run. I feel certain that the more space they have the healthier they'll be... and I know how much they love to free range.. so hopefully they'll be happy with the run while we're not home.