So back in April, I pick up an assortment of 15 birds from the feed store.......6 of them were going to be for my daughter and the rest for me. One turned out to be a rooster, who has since been deleted.
So at 15 weeks, she moves 4 of the pullets to her place.........2 BO and 2 RIR.......leaving me with 3 RIR, 5 SLW and 2 NH. Within 2 weeks, her 4 birds start laying and lately she has been getting 2 to 3 eggs per day from her birds.
I did not get my first egg until this morning. These birds were all picked up as day old chicks the same day. So her birds start laying 2 to 3 weeks ahead of mine.
The only thing I can tell that is different is my birds are still on a grower ration and she started theirs on layer feed as soon as they picked them up. Hers are confined to a coop and small run. Mine roam around inside a fenced yard, but I've looked and cannot find any hidden nests or stray eggs on the ground. So I don't think mine have started laying until today.
Curious if jumping the gun on the layer feed could have that affect. I have had oyster shell out for the past few weeks, and there were not paying much attention to it until the past few days. My birds are also more green stuff and bugs than hers and thus eat less commercial feed overall.
Bottom line is what they eat may have more of an affect on when they start laying than I realized.
So at 15 weeks, she moves 4 of the pullets to her place.........2 BO and 2 RIR.......leaving me with 3 RIR, 5 SLW and 2 NH. Within 2 weeks, her 4 birds start laying and lately she has been getting 2 to 3 eggs per day from her birds.
I did not get my first egg until this morning. These birds were all picked up as day old chicks the same day. So her birds start laying 2 to 3 weeks ahead of mine.
The only thing I can tell that is different is my birds are still on a grower ration and she started theirs on layer feed as soon as they picked them up. Hers are confined to a coop and small run. Mine roam around inside a fenced yard, but I've looked and cannot find any hidden nests or stray eggs on the ground. So I don't think mine have started laying until today.
Curious if jumping the gun on the layer feed could have that affect. I have had oyster shell out for the past few weeks, and there were not paying much attention to it until the past few days. My birds are also more green stuff and bugs than hers and thus eat less commercial feed overall.
Bottom line is what they eat may have more of an affect on when they start laying than I realized.
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