New and confused by frequency and color

[MountainFamily]

Hi - We are brand new to the forum, and to chickens. We bought 11 chicks in the spring from a feed store and were told they were "Ameraucanas." They live closed in the coop at night and have the option of in the coop or in a fenced pen during the day. As far as we know they are all females, since none of them look very different from eachother and no one has crowed yet.

14 days ago they began laying eggs. Each day we get 1-2 eggs, and 2 times over the last two weeks we have had no eggs. The eggs are small and different tints of green. Most of them have been layed in the middle of the pen. Lately, some are on the coop floor, but never in the nest box. Most of the laying occurs between noon and 5pm, although we have never caught them in the act. This morning, for the first time ever, we all of a sudden had a medium sized brown egg. And yesterday, for the first time ever, we had three eggs in one day.

So, can anyone give me any clues as to how many chickens are probably laying? How often do they lay when they first get started? Daily? A few a week? And, can one hen lay different colors of eggs, or does each hen always lay the same color (different tints)? Lastly, how do I encourage them to lay in the nest boxes, or will they just start doing that at some point?

Thanks!

 

[carolinasculpture]

Hi! I only have one Ameraucana or Easter Egger, but she lays the greenish eggs. The Easter Eggers can lay any different color eggs, including the brown one you saw, green, pink, blue or buff. My chickens laid their eggs all over the place until I put an artificial egg in the nest box. Believe it or not, they actually studied the fake egg and then after that the eggs all have ended up in the boxes. I would think that at this time you have 3 laying and the others will start up soon. As they begin they do have off days and such. My EE is currently laying in that afternoon as well. Good luck and have fun with your different color eggs! Hope this is helpful!

 

[Chick CJ]

It sounds like you have three hens laying but there's really no way to tell for sure without putting a camera in the nesting boxes! (which I have been known to want to do but haven't had the nerve just yet!) As far as the color goes, I don't think a green egg layer would lay a brown egg, although my EE who lays green eggs normally has layed three blue eggs at different times. (I know it's her because she is the only EE I have) EE's can lay a variety of colors depending on what the mix breed is. I have heard of brown, blue, pink and varying shades of green.

As far as how often they will lay, each bird will have a different lay "schedule" and in the beginning it is impossible to say what that schedule will turn out to be. My EE (Easter Egger, this is what you really got from the feed store as feed stores generally don't sell true bred Ameraucanas) only lays an average of 4 or 5 eggs per week. Others on this forum have said their EE's lay every day. Also my experience was that once one of my girls started laying, they were all laying within a few weeks. So every day or so was another first egg day! (I knew this because all of my girls are different breeds and lay different eggs!)

As far as getting them to lay in the nesting boxes, you could put some fake eggs in the boxes for them to see and this might make them think it is a "good" place to lay. Whenever I noticed behaviour in one of my hens that looked like they might be getting ready to lay, redder comb, walking around making loud noises like something was about to happen but they weren't quite sure what, that sort of thing, I would go out and make a "nest" shape in the box and put them in it and talk to them softly, just to give them the idea that this was a good place if indeed they were getting ready to lay.

Hopefully some of this will help you. With chickens it's a kind of learn as you go kind of thing and not all things work for everyone. Welome to the world of chickens and welcome to the forum! It is a treasure trove of information and good people!

CJ

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Your chickens won't change egg colors , so if you got 3 blue or green eggs in 1 day, & a brown egg within 24 hours, you have 4 hens laying.

I might add ...they can change tints, but won't change from blue to brown & back.