Topic of the Week - When Do Pullets Begin Laying?

[luckycluk]

As a first time chicken keeper, I was sooo impatiently waiting for my first eggs. I have 12 in all. 6 American buff orpintons, 3 silver laced wyandottes, and 3 barred rocks. All hatchery birds. My first layers were buffs, starting at 20 weeks. 3 of them are laying so far, but none of the others yet.

Around 13-14 weeks, I saw reddening in the face of a few, which spread to the combs and wattles. Their combs began to grow enormous and quickly. At about 16 weeks, I noticed some nesting behaviors. Between then and the first egg, there were submission squats, and egg song practice.

My first layer came about a week and a half before the second, and nearly another week before the third began. I'm still egg-cited everytime I get an egg, and we've gotten just over a dozen so far.

On a side note, my first layer named Honey is still laying about a medium sized egg and she reliably camps out in the nest box off and on sometimes for a few hours before she passes it. Her sister Melina lays a large to extra large egg, and does it within an hour, however the larger eggs caused a small prolapse of her vent which I caught because of blood streaks on her eggs. Hers wasn't serious, though. Indeed, she laid a jumbo yesterday. You might keep a tube of original preparation H on hand just in case.

Enjoy your first eggs, and treat your girls for laying them!

As a first time chicken keeper, I was sooo impatiently waiting for my first eggs. I have 12 in all. 6 American buff orpintons, 3 silver laced wyandottes, and 3 barred rocks. All hatchery birds. My first layers were buffs, starting at 20 weeks. 3 of them are laying so far, but none of the others yet.

Around 13-14 weeks, I saw reddening in the face of a few, which spread to the combs and wattles. Their combs began to grow enormous and quickly. At about 16 weeks, I noticed some nesting behaviors. Between then and the first egg, there were submission squats, and egg song practice.

My first layer came about a week and a half before the second, and nearly another week before the third began. I'm still egg-cited everytime I get an egg, and we've gotten just over a dozen so far.

On a side note, my first layer named Honey is still laying about a medium sized egg and she reliably camps out in the nest box off and on sometimes for a few hours before she passes it. Her sister Melina lays a large to extra large egg, and does it within an hour, however the larger eggs caused a small prolapse of her vent which I caught because of blood streaks on her eggs. Hers wasn't serious, though. Indeed, she laid a jumbo yesterday. You might keep a tube of original preparation H on hand just in case.

Enjoy your first eggs, and treat your girls for laying them!

We’re you serious about the preparation H ? If so I didn’t know that.

 

[Jensride09]

Our 3 pullets are about 15 weeks old but not much has changed in the comb and wattles department for a few weeks. We just got the girls roost-trained so no more trying to sleep and pooping in the nest boxes, yay! We know we still have at minimum a few weeks, but I'm excited already

Do the comb and wattles really wait till that same week to "pop"? We have the nest boxes blocked off, wondering when to open them up for business - I had been thinking maybe in another 2 weeks so they don't revert back from their roost-training?

Weekly pics of the girls! (will need to add a 15 week old one tomorrow)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/our-peeps-from-5-weeks-until-now

Should I block my nest boxes off ? Our pullets are only 13 weeks old … I see the shaving in tne boxes a little scattered - but don’t see them in the boxes ever
Thanks !

 

[BDutch]

Should I block my nest boxes off ? Our pullets are only 13 weeks old … I see the shaving in tne boxes a little scattered - but don’t see them in the boxes ever
Thanks !

Why would you? There’s nothing wrong with exploring.

I only block my nest boxes in the night to prevent pullets (>10 weeks old) to sleep in it and to stop broody chickens to go on being broody for a long time.

I use fake eggs in the nest boxes to stimulate the pullets/chickens to lay eggs in the right place.

If you have questions like this its better to start a new thread .

 

[Carters Chick House]

View attachment 2680956

One of the most common questions in the BYC forum is when to expect pullets to be laying eggs. It can be quite hard to be patient as we await the eggs' arrival, especially when we are lost as to when the pullets will even start. So, we're asking for your answers on this topic.

- When did your pullets begin laying? What breed are they?
- How long would it take for your new hens to start laying again?
- What are the signs that they are ready to lay eggs?



For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https

 

[Carters Chick House]

First hen in my flock to go broody was my tiny Japanese molted bantam. All her eggs are unfertilized because our roo ignores her. So..I placed two cochin eggs under her and she hatched them without any problems. I let her stay in her nest until chicks hatched. I placed her in a grow out pen inside the coop. After the first week I opened the door so she and the chicks could run around the coop while the flock was outside. Week two she had them in the run with the flock. Two brief fights with another hen and then I've had no problem. When chicks were 5 weeks old she started laying again.

 

[Cool_Catrules456]

Feed store EEs seem to lay around 1 year old. By my own EEs that I mixed all laid at 5 months old. (The father was a silver blue EE the mothers were: SLW, GLW and a Buff orpington.) those are the females at least had bad luck with the WLH. (All males.) with the leghorn, I was hoping to create all blue egg layers instead of green, by removing the brown tint. But that did not work out. (I don’t have the rooster anymore. So I can’t try again.)

Edit: relized I forgot the signs of a laying pullet. They begin to squat, their hips go father apart, their combs and vents redden, and they become more interested in the nesting box.

 

[Cool_Catrules456]

Feed store EEs seem to lay around 1 year old. By my own EEs that I mixed all laid at 5 months old. (The father was a silver blue EE the mothers were: SLW, GLW and a Buff orpington.) those are the females at least had bad luck with the WLH. (All males.) with the leghorn, I was hoping to create all blue egg layers instead of green, by removing the brown tint. But that did not work out. (I don’t have the rooster anymore. So I can’t try again.)

Here are the hens.

Golden laced mom.Or what I like to call “silver laced blue Wyandotte”maybe I will make this a true breed later on IDK.

SLW mom. This one is my favorite out of the batch. Love the comb.

I don’t have a resent full body of her. But here is her and her mom.

 

[Ponypoor]

Silkies and barnyard mutts all around the 5 month mark. They started squatting for me a couple weeks before laying. This was a better sign than combs and wattles as mine have small wattles or in the silkies case black and hidden in fluffy feathers.

But as soon as they squatted I knew within 2 weeks they would start laying.

 

[fluffycrow]

5-6 month mark is when my LF pullets start to lay. My sample size with bantams is really small, but in may experience they lay around the 5 month mark. Oriental gamefowl take much longer, with aseel hens starting to lay at 8-10 months

 

[Party_Chicken]

This is a photo of my two red sex link pullets three weeks from laying. They started following our other pullets into the nest box but not laying an egg.