Silkie Chicken when will she lay?

[Cynthia 085]

Hi guys

My gray silkie chicken is around 4 months of age; not sure because I got her a little bigger than the other ones. At the end of October she will be 5 months. When will she lay?
I have read past posts, but I find different answers.

I am going to start offering calcium soon. I think she is 16 weeks old. When exactly should I offer the crushed oyster shells?
Thank you for all of your help.

I know that silkies are not good layers, but wanted to ask this question so that I am prepared I want to make sure I am taking good care of her. Thank you!
Here is a pic of her when I got her


This is her now

 

[Wyandottes7]

She'll probably start laying around 5-7 months old. Silkies tend to be poor layers, so I suspect that she'll wait until around 6 months or so.

You don't need to start providing extra calcium at this point. When she starts laying, you can up the calcium, but you don't need to do it now if she isn't laying.

 

[Odelia]

She doesn't need oyster shell yet. Start offering it at more like 22 weeks. She may start laying at about 6 months. Though she may not lay until spring. The days are growing shorter and number of hours of light they receive has a huge effect on their laying. So start watching around Thanksgiving, but I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't start laying until late February.

 

[BantamLover21]

She should begin laying when she is 6-8 months old. Since Silkies aren't bred as egg producers, she may wait a little longer.

Good luck with her!

 

[nayeli]

My silkie is 5-6 months and hasn't started yet. Honestly I'm not worrying about extra calcium until she needs it (when she starts laying).

 

[Cynthia 085]

Thank you guys for the information.
I was just paranoid that I would be late on the calcium. Good to know that I have to wait until she does lay. How big do silkies get? I thought she would grow a bit more, but I think she is done. Her ears are starting to turn dark blueish.


I have another question now that we are in this topic. Thank you for helping me and sorry for the trouble; I simply do not know much about chickens as this is my first year owning any.

I have two regular sized cochins (I bought them for my friend). I think the previous owner I bought them from said that they were born in April (@6moths old).

Should I keep these birds on chick food? Rather than switching to laying flock?

I know that if they don't lay the calcium in the food can damage the kidneys. On the contrary, I have also read articles, past posts, and have seen people offer laying flock feed after 18weeks. This may just pertain to good egg layers though like Red Reproduction Pullets so I am a bit confused.

Are cochins not good layers either?

Thank you very much
Cynthia

 

[BantamLover21]

Thank you guys for the information.
I was just paranoid that I would be late on the calcium. Good to know that I have to wait until she does lay. How big do silkies get? I thought she would grow a bit more, but I think she is done. Her ears are starting to turn dark blueish.


I have another question now that we are in this topic. Thank you for helping me and sorry for the trouble; I simply do not know much about chickens as this is my first year owning any.

I have two regular sized cochins (I bought them for my friend). I think the previous owner I bought them from said that they were born in April (@6moths old).

Should I keep these birds on chick food? Rather than switching to laying flock? If they are over 6 months old, then it is fine to feed them layer feed. At that age, they are close enough to laying that the extra calcium won't hurt. Or, you could keep them on chick food, and just provide some free-choice oystershell/eggshell.

I know that if they don't lay the calcium in the food can damage the kidneys. On the contrary, I have also read articles, past posts, and have seen people offer laying flock feed after 18weeks. This may just pertain to good egg layers though like Red Reproduction Pullets so I am a bit confused.

Are cochins not good layers either? Cochins are great layers for short periods of time. I used to have Cochin bantams, and each hen produced an egg basically everyday. However, that didn't keep up--Cochins are extremely broody, so both hens would lay for a few weeks, and then go broody for a week or so. After the end of that week, they would resume egg production.

Thank you very much
Cynthia

 

[meiradewi]

Hi guys My gray silkie chicken is around 4 months of age; not sure because I got her a little bigger than the other ones. At the end of October she will be 5 months. When will she lay? I have read past posts, but I find different answers. I am going to start offering calcium soon. I think she is 16 weeks old. When exactly should I offer the crushed oyster shells? Thank you for all of your help. I know that silkies are not good layers, but wanted to ask this question so that I am prepared I want to make sure I am taking good care of her. Thank you! Here is a pic of her when I got her This is her now

I got 6 silkies. One of the hen start laying this morning when the weather is really cold. It was a nice surprised,when I opened their box to clean and I Saw an egg right beside their nesting box ..,I said Amen to that.,,,anyway they're abouth 5 1/2 months old. We got them since they're a week old. I believed we have 3 hens and 3 roo's and I'm hoping the other hen going to start laying pretty soon. We start feeding them layered/crumble when they're around 4mo old. Hope it's help