Pictures of Black Copper Marans around time of laying first egg

[vehve]

I love the way she's looking at the egg looking perplexed

 

[tracecom]

Yeah, I was blessed today on Thanksgiving Day, can you believe it! Minuit gave thanks back to me with her first egg at 27 weeks. It was quite an ordeal, with all of her sounds!

My Marans are 23 weeks and 3 days old today. There are three BCM hens (part of a flock of 11,) and so far, they have eaten more than 300 pounds of feed and 25 pounds of scratch, produced 40 gallons of poop, and laid zero eggs. I am discouraged.

 

[One Chick Two]

My Marans are 23 weeks and 3 days old today. There are three BCM hens (part of a flock of 11,) and so far, they have eaten more than 300 pounds of feed and 25 pounds of scratch, produced 40 gallons of poop, and laid zero eggs. I am discouraged.

Bet it will happen soon. If they are squatting for you or the comb and wattles are reddening and they start to get plump, all signs.
Best sign, gently feel the pelvic bones under the vent. They will usually start laying when there is at least a two finger span.

 

[Cot Cot]

Yes, give it a few more weeks! My hen was major squatting when I would come up and pet her. I started showing her the next box. She jumped out at first on the first day. The next day I put her in there and she stayed. When I left the coop she jumped out. A few minutes later I watched her go in herself and get in the box. Then 2 hours later at 1 pm she laid her first egg. She was so loud there was absolutely no way you are going to miss the actual event.
Good luck! Tell us when she finally lays and how old she was.

 

[One Chick Two]

After I finished writing my last post, went out to the pens, and picked up a BCM pullet that was purchased a few months ago from a breeder, when she and her sister were 4 months old and checked her pelvic bone spacing again.

So, I've been waiting for eggs from her, and noticed that her pelvic bone spacing had just suddenly just jumped to a near 3 fingertip width. Afterward, I put her back bad down, and noticed she went right in the next box, and wandered around in the box. A few of the other hens surrounded her for moral support, and 10 minutes later, a glorious egg song.

Unfortunately, the egg is light, but it has very dark speckles. However, all is not lost, as all of our own birds seem to start off with a few light eggs, then cycle into darker eggs. Her egg is on the left, compared to one of our typical starting pullet eggs from our birds who have subtle speckling and a sheen.


Here's what I mean by cycling, below. I have taken test eggs from each of our hen's eggs to track her color over the year. This is our mossy hen's eggs- she always lays XL- 2XL. You can see, last Jan. and Feb. her eggs were extremely much paler than this pullet's egg, but, the hue darkened up quite a bit by June. Even though her eggs are not super dark, however, they have stayed darker for months, without cycling lighter like some hens who cycle much faster from lighter to darker. The dark egg above her pale egg shows sometimes a hen's egg can surprise you.



If she won't eventually lay at least a #4 level egg, I will be disappointed, and she'll have to be in the project pen. She is otherwise showable and lovely, and her mother was a Ca. Reserve state champ. But, a Marans isn't a Marans if they don't lay at least a #4.

 

[dbaeunn]

I'm so jealous.. mine are more interested in hiding under the coop than laying. They constantly hang with the Rooster but he shows no interest in them?
He spends more time chasing the EasterEggers that won't be laying for another month.