Texas

[Auntiejessi3]

Question for my Texas folks!

Have you noticed your pullets and cockerels mature much slower in the heat?

I'm somewhat close to Lake Livingston and I have 11 pullets and 1 cockerel. All almost 25 weeks old. The cockerel started crowing and mating a week or 2 ago. Definitely a late bloomer- he didn't have male specific feathering until close to 18 weeks old. Only ONE pullet is laying. All the others are taking their sweet time. The weird part is I have a variety of breeds so I would expect at least more than 1 to lay by now.

I think it's more breed specific along with the days getting shorter. I've had English Orpingtons mature just like they should in summers way hotter than this one has been. Ya know what they say, the waiting is the hardest part

 

[WingItRanch]

I think it's more breed specific along with the days getting shorter. I've had English Orpingtons mature just like they should in summers way hotter than this one has been. Ya know what they say, the waiting is the hardest part

They're 100% torturing me. They even taunt me by sitting in the nest boxes!

I have 4 Plymouth Barred Rock, 3 Easter Eggers, 2 Welsummers, 1 Blue Australorp, and 1 Ancona. The Australorp is the only one laying!

 

[janiedoe]

I think it's more breed specific along with the days getting shorter. I've had English Orpingtons mature just like they should in summers way hotter than this one has been. Ya know what they say, the waiting is the hardest part

I agree. I can pick out a male bantam so much earlier than a standard. Usually by 4 weeks I know a bantams gender, especially the oegb.
Standard Easter egger males can stump me until they are at least 5 to 6 months old. My pea comb males are usually slower to reveal their gender.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

They're 100% torturing me. They even taunt me by sitting in the nest boxes!

I have 4 Plymouth Barred Rock, 3 Easter Eggers, 2 Welsummers, 1 Blue Australorp, and 1 Ancona. The Australorp is the only one laying!

It'll happen, I promise

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

• 1st 7 egg day (today) ~5.5mo, but the day's not over.

Patience grasshopper. Did I say 7? Make that 9.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

In other news, I've got a chicken who won't leave Angela's favorite nesting box, which kinda happens to be almost everyone's favorite. Is it unheard of for a chicken to go broody after laying for only a week? Pretty sure I saw the same chicken peck and chase off someone else from that same nesting box yesterday.

 

[janiedoe]

In other news, I've got a chicken who won't leave Angela's favorite nesting box, which kinda happens to be almost everyone's favorite. Is it unheard of for a chicken to go broody after laying for only a week? Pretty sure I saw the same chicken peck and chase off someone else from that same nesting box yesterday.

What breed? I've had bantams go broody after a few weeks of laying. The earliest I've had a standard go broody is around 7 months. I would keep an eye on things, she may be hiding from a bully.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

What breed? I've had bantams go broody after a few weeks of laying. The earliest I've had a standard go broody is around 7 months. I would keep an eye on things, she may be hiding from a bully.

So I remembered wrong. She was actually inside the nesting box and went to peck someone on the other side of the coop.

She's probably not actually broody. She was in there, for more than half of the daylight hours yesterday, but she only hung out there for 2-3 hrs today.

Yesterday, she did help collect all the golf balls and fake eggs on that side of the coop into a single nesting box.

She was outside by the time I went out with the dogs to look for eggs and give them a snack around noon today.

I'll keep an eye out, but I don't think there's any bullying going on. I see chickens chasing each other around at varying times of the day, but it's not always the same ones as the chaser or chasee.

 

[janiedoe]

So I remembered wrong. She was actually inside the nesting box and went to peck someone on the other side of the coop.
View attachment 3951193

She's probably not actually broody. She was in there, for more than half of the daylight hours yesterday, but she only hung out there for 2-3 hrs today.

Yesterday, she did help collect all the golf balls and fake eggs on that side of the coop into a single nesting box.
View attachment 3951201


She was outside by the time I went out with the dogs to look for eggs and give them a snack around noon today.

I'll keep an eye out, but I don't think there's any bullying going on. I see chickens chasing each other around at varying times of the day, but it's not always the same ones as the chaser or chasee.

Its normal for them to gather all the eggs, fake or not, into a pile when they are in the nest. She may be hiding because she is low in status, or she may just be a slow layer.
The other hen ran her out of the nest easily. A hormonal broody wouldn't have left the nest so easily.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

She may be hiding because she is low in status, or she may just be a slow layer.
The other hen ran her out of the nest easily. A hormonal broody wouldn't have left the nest so easily.

Perhaps my earlier description was unclear, but the one that had been sitting in nesting boxes for many hours per day is the one that got up our of her bedding box and chased another hen out of a nesting box that wasn't even the one she was laying in!

The ridiculous part of all this egg maneuvering is that two different chickens have been caught moving Hei Hei's eggs back and forth today. I'm afraid they're going to end up cracking it.

The other night I found one egg on the ground, so I'm wondering whether these nesting box guarding antics are going to cause some of my girls to lay them outside which would not be ideal.