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.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!