Should I buy eggs or wait it out?

[ronott1]

Does anyone have any idea when they think my Ameraucanas will lay??

They hatched Easter weekend. They are 28 weeks old. I am frustrated. I miss blue/green eggs.

BTW..... HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

January 8th, 2015 or so.

I picked that date because it is my Birthday!

Did you add light for them? It is likely too late for them to start laying if they do not get more than 12 hours of light.

 

[Scrambles55]

January 8th?????

 

[lindz8504]

lindz - betcha the little Marans will lay by Christmas day. your flock is so splendid... looks like quite a few pullets! lucky you... I seem to have mostly cockerels

I'm hoping that is the case! Thank you, I love my flock! Yours is pretty amazing too! I had mostly cockerels too, but several have been gotten by either a hawk, or the dog, or something else..... I still have at least 5 to send to camp when they get big enough. The incubator crew really surprised me with how many turned out to be pullets. It seemed that early in the season we got mostly cockerels, but the last 2 hatches had about equal numbers.

 

[lindz8504]

Does anyone have any idea when they think my Ameraucanas will lay??

They hatched Easter weekend. They are 28 weeks old. I am frustrated. I miss blue/green eggs.

BTW..... HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

Scrambles,
My Black Copper Marans pullet was a year old in Sept, and she still isn't laying. I think she's defective! Maybe she'll start after molting.... I hope....


And HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

 

[cheeka]

Scrambles, if it doesn't happen in the next 2 weeks, I'm with ronott... end of the first week of January

 

[lindz8504]

Onyx is half naked.

 

[lindz8504]

My flock is decreasing by 5 this afternoon. I'm going to process 3 roosters and 2 hens. That should help with the feed bill at least a little. There are still 3 younger roosters that aren't quite big enough to bother with yet. I'm going to give them another month or so of growing. Well, off to get the dirty job done. I hate this part.

 

[ronott1]

My flock is decreasing by 5 this afternoon. I'm going to process 3 roosters and 2 hens. That should help with the feed bill at least a little. There are still 3 younger roosters that aren't quite big enough to bother with yet. I'm going to give them another month or so of growing. Well, off to get the dirty job done. I hate this part.

I processed two last weekend and will work on more next weekend or so. I need to process some old hens, they are four to five years old and do not lay much any more. I am also growing out some Cream legbar cockerels and one more Pita Pinta.

Pita Pinta

 

[Scrambles55]

Ronott.... Those are beautiful chickens.
I am not sure that I could process one of my girls. Luckily, I have not been in the position to make that decision.

It is raining like heck here. The girls are huddled in the area of the pen that is covered. I am going to try and talk DH into extending the roof a bit. At least 3 more feet. That will give them another 30sq feet of dry pen area. We are also going to winterize the pen a bit. Since Rumples has to sleep in her own area, we are going to hang a heat lamp for her. It will be in a spot that can be shared by the others outside. The temps here are dropping down to around 14F at night.

 

[ronott1]

Ronott.... Those are beautiful chickens.
I am not sure that I could process one of my girls. Luckily, I have not been in the position to make that decision.

It is raining like heck here. The girls are huddled in the area of the pen that is covered. I am going to try and talk DH into extending the roof a bit. At least 3 more feet. That will give them another 30sq feet of dry pen area. We are also going to winterize the pen a bit. Since Rumples has to sleep in her own area, we are going to hang a heat lamp for her. It will be in a spot that can be shared by the others outside. The temps here are dropping down to around 14F at night.

I have been putting off processing the hens for a while now. It will be the first time for me. We did do this when I was growing up, but it is hard.