Orpintons and eggs

[MIKE555444]

Oh.. and our nest are made like this so we can get eggs from outside.

 

[3goodeggs]

Thank you all so much! I now have a right to NAG!
I'll use a Few milk crates for now, to get them used to something different in their coop, also I have a few that are looking more mature than the others so I feel a need to rush.
I do have one chicken with some mighty impressive legs and suspected it might be male. I'll send the picks when I get them, but except for a few, they all look alike and I can't tell who I am taking pics off.

 

[mygirls55]

I have buff orphingtons, and they started laying at 6 months. When I first started and didnt have laying boxes, I used a medium box, and cut the end out of it, put hay in it, and they loved it. Nice and private. Then when it got dirty looking, I threw the hay in the garden, Burn the cardboard boxes in our wood stove, go to the dollar store, and get some more boxes out of the trash bin....and had nice boxes again.
Dont be disappointed if the eggs are small at first. They will increase in size the more they lay. I have one that produces a double yolker about 2 times a week. It is a huge egg. The others lay large eggs.

 

[ubumartin]

one of my orpingtons just started laying at about 26 weeks. I don' t think my other 2 are laying yet, but they are pretty close.

 

[sojono]

i got my baby buff o. may29 and got my first eggs last wk. am getting 3 a day now.i have 12 hens.i use metal 5 gallon buckets laying on side with 4 inch board accoss the front to hold shavings in.for nest works real well.sojono.

 

[Michelle54]

My BO, Queenie, started laying at about 17 weeks. But she layed on top of the nest box. We had to modify it so the eggs wouldn't roll off. Tried all the usual tricks to get her to lay in the nest. Just this past week, she finally started laying in the nest. We also have a Campine and a Wyandotte. I think the Wyandotte (Abigail) finally convinced Queenie the nest is more comfy.

 

[caralouise1974]

My BO laid a tiny little egg in the middle of the run at 24 weeks. From the next day onwards she figured it out and laid inside the nestboxes, and the eggs gradually got bigger. (5 eggs a week, except when broody.) A total darling of a hen!

 

[Pecker mom]

Instead of making wooden boxes, I used plastic dish tubs and tacked them to the floor of my hen house with a short nail so they couldn't tip if they stepped up on the side. I had a full size Barred Rock and she used them fine. This way I can gently pull the nail and clean if needed as well. My two Banty hens are using them now and love them as well......a lot easier sometimes to do it yourself than light that fire

 

[3goodeggs]

I was in the run this morning, and the hen with the reddest comb did this 'squat and wing thing' in front of me. They are older than some of yours, so I guess I better hurry! They hatched on the 3rd of May.
I am really looking hard now for a rooster...but they still all look alike...except for the ones that helped my husband paint the chicken wire. I looked hard at their legs and now they all look alike too. I think the one with the squinty looking eyes is the rooster. Different attitude than the rest.

I agree with all of you that mentioned how sweet they are!
Yes, the fire is difficult to light. I think I will try the wash tubs. Their size was my main concern, but you all are right, they look bigger than they are. All pelum skirts and pantiloons.

 

[Glglenn]

My BO took more like 8 months too but get ready. My hen loved plenty to fluffy hay to lay her eggs in. I tried to use a ceramic egg to choose where they laid but they found a bail of hay they liked better than their coop (we let them free range all day and put up at night, we also have a great pyrenees to protect from predators). She went broody the first batch of eggs. So much so we thought she had been eaten. We found her in the little hay house on top of 10 eggs. They hatched a week ago and they are adorable together with their mother. Incidently her comb had not turned red yet. She always had the smallest and palest comb but she has made a great mom.