Question about egg laying

[LilyD]

Okay so one of my new chickens started laying on Monday, she was one day shy of 16 weeks old. She laid a small egg, about robin size on Monday and a medium chicken egg on Tuesday. I haven't seen any eggs since then. They are in a coop with a fenced in run. I do occasionally like to let them out to roam but I haven't recently because I am worried about her laying her eggs elsewhere.

Could she just be taking a break or is there something wrong? They all seem very healthy and happy. They are on Egg production Plus by Poulin which is a food designed to promote good health in the hens and the eggs.

Any ideas?

 

[chi-rn]

Don't know what type/size hens we're talking about, but initial egg-laying is a stop/start proposition, & not all eggs in the first few weeks will be perfect. You have to be patient as your girls perfect their art!

 

[LilyD]

Quote:
These are Gold Comets they are full size about 6 pounds each bird. My roosters that came with them are closer to 10 pounds although that's much heavier than they were supposed to be. Must be something in the water. They started squatting a few weeks ago and we got our first egg on Monday. It was totally perfect except for the fact that it was robin size. The second egg (I am assuming was from the same hen) was larger about medium size. I change the shavings in the boxes daily to keep it clean in there for them. There are 12 girls total but only one has laid so far. After the first egg I stopped the free ranging to make sure that anyone else who started laying would know where to go, rather than using my berry bushes and brush piles as possible nesting sites.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Most young pullets seem to lay before noon. I always keep the young pullets in until noon during their "this is where we lay" training period. I've never had an issue with hens going elsewhere to lay, using this method. Not saying it is foolproof, but I believe in it.

 

[chi-rn]

All my hens are Golden Comets... no roosters (one of the advantages.. in my opinion.. of sex-linked chickens)! I've had them since February with a few FLE (funny looking eggs), especially early on. The rare soft-shell, a couple of "umbilical-cord" eggs. I can almost always trace the problems back with being too liberal with treats (watermelon is a particular culprit). Now, I take care to sprinkle their treats (except dehydrated meal worms) with crushed oyster shell. Seems to be the fix. They enjoy free-ranging only when someone is outside with 'em, but they love treats like chopped cabbage/tomato/apple/pear, scrambled eggs, & spinach leaves.. as long as treats are sprinkled! Here's a pic of one of my early FLE-- scared me to death! Don't see those anymore!

 

[montanaSarah]

my golden did the exact same thing at 16 weeks. she layed 2 eggs, then stopped for a couple of days, then started again. she's now 18 weeks, and i'm getting about 5 eggs a week from her. i'm new at this, but i've read that this is quite common when they first start to lay.

 

[teach1rusl]

Agree with Montana - it's very common with new layers to start to lay, then skip a bit, until their systems get into the swing of things....

 

[LilyD]

Cool I won't worry then, just let her do her thing. Hopefully once she gets the hang of it She will be able to talk the other girls into joining her. So far she is the only one that has attempted laying yet although I have quite a few squatters and the boys are definitely making the rounds.