new member question

girlonthefarm

In the Brooder
8 Years
Jul 30, 2011
10
0
22
Hi! I am new to chickens, and have never joined a forum before so I hope I am doing this right. I have been 'lurking' trying to get educated and find answers to my questions. Most of the time I find what I needed to know, but decided to join so I can ask a few more specific questions. We bought 12 chicks from the local feed store this spring. 6 BR's and 6 Amerecanas (which after reading posts I believe are really EE's). When we bought them they were between 1 - 2 weeks. We are approaching 20 weeks on Aug 1st. 3 of the rocks have well developed red face, comb and wattle, the other 3 are progressing. For the last 3 days one of the rocks has sat on the plastic egg in the nest and made a lot of racket. Is this normal behavior when approaching the egg laying time? Does this mean she will be broody? Maybe hormones? Do I need to worry she is egg bound? the noise is not constant and she seems comfortable. The other question I have is about the EE's. I have not found any reference to how old they will be before they will lay eggs? Is there some physical change as in the BR's? We are going out of town for a couple of days and hope not to miss THE event. Thanks for your help.
 
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from Louisiana! It's normal.. They are getting ready to lay that's for sure and it's great they found the nest boxes right away!!
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Hello and welcome to BYC!
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. It must be normal behavior. I'm have the same exact issue with my 20 week old rhode island red. She's been doing this for 2 days and still no egg. I hope you don't miss your first egg while your away. Good luck!
 
EE's do lay a bit later, or at least mine did, I think around 24 or 26 weeks. They're such individuals that in the end it's just a matter of waiting, anyway. Here's hoping yours lay soon!
 
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Waiting is so hard, I am tickled we got these production reds, they started laying at 14 weeks. I now can relax a bit and let the others develop, my EE are only 12 weeks old, it is easier to wait w the others laying!
 

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