Hello everyone. I'm new to this chicken addiction, but I've been following and learning from this site for a few months now. What an amazing resource you all are. Thank you! This has been quite the journey so far. I ordered 6 chicks online from mypetchicken, a plymouth barred rock "sassy", easter egger "Cleo", silver laced wyandotte "Lacey"' golden laced wyandotte "Lucy", black austrolorp "Gertty"' blue cochin "Socks". They arrived back on 4/8, which my wife was not too happy about. She agreed to let me keep them so long as the coop didn't cost a small fortune. I promised it wouldn't. The plan was to build it from reclaimed wood I had and pallets that I had to collect. I was able to win her over by having her help design the coop and letting her name it. She came up with the "Laying Loft" and I kept the cost under $100. Unfortunately, we lost "socks" the Cochin a few months back to a mother fox that had made a den under my neighbors shed approx 50yds from the coop. They were free ranging while I was working in the yard, but when I went in the house to get something, got side tracked for a little while and when I came out she was missing. I spoke with the neighbors kid to see if he had seen her and that's when I learned about the fox!!! So I crawled under the shed and found a few tell tale feathers. Made me feel terrible!!!!! Subsequently, I kept the rest of the flock cooped up until the fox and her little ones moved on. So far so good. I do let them back out now but they are watched very closely. As it turns out, Sassy the BR is a rooster hence the sassy attitude when he was little. My wife named him by the way and his crowing is starting to annoy the neighbors. I'm not sure what to do about that yet, it is New Hampshire anyway. So maybe we can ride it out. We have come to enjoy having the chickens around even my wife, who I have caught feeding them treats from the deck "they love grapes and peanuts". My teenage kids too enjoy watching them and making them jump to eat treats from their hands. I wish I had gotten chickens sooner when the kids were little. So I tell you all this to ask this one simple question. When will I start getting eggs?????????? I can't stand the wait any longer!!!!!!!!! Plus, my oldest son goes back to college tomorrow and I was hoping he would get a chance to enjoy a fresh egg before he went. He has only ever had store bought eggs. It seems he's going to have to wait until break, but when will the rest of us get our first egg?
when pullets are approaching point of lay, their combs will redden and usually if you touch them on the back they will squat for you (like they would for a rooster) if you have nest boxes put a couple golf balls in them so they figure out what is where eggs should go. Sometimes they will just let loose anywhere, or some will have a hidden nest - so keep an eye open.
I put golf balls in the nesting boxes 2 wks ago. The combs are getting red and I figure they are 19wks. I need the eggs to appease my neighbor. How many per day with 4 hens?
Depends on the breed. If they are a productive breed like Leghorns or some of the sexlinks, you will likely have average 3 per day once they really get rolling.
21 weeks!!!! No squatting! No egg song! No eggs!!!!! Combs seem to be getting red and the cockerel is trying to mate with all of them. Here are some picks, tell if you think they're getting close.