Red golden pheasants, when do they start laying?

[Susan Skylark]

I now have a pair of these lovely birds, I’m still not sure they aren’t AI generated! The guy I got the hen from said they start laying at 2, the internet says 1 year old. Which one is it? I’m actually leaning towards the interwebs on this one, the hen has tripled in size in the two months we’ve had her and is almost as big as our yearling male. She came with a dish of cracked corn for feed, I wonder if that is all they were getting? I’ve got them on a 20% protein all flock feed, on a balanced ration can they lay at a year, vs 2 years with subpar nutrition? Do yearling hens lay fewer eggs than older hens? Thanks!

 

[007Sean]

They will lay their first year!...so if you have juvenile hens right now they will lay this spring, usually they will start in April or May in northern latitudes, southern latitudes they will start about the middle of March. I've noticed no difference in the amount of eggs a young hen will lay versus an older one! There will be a noticeable size difference in the first year's hens eggs. They need a balanced and complete feed ration of 24% protein.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Any hatchability issues with the smaller eggs? I haven’t noticed any in quail, thanks!