what clues are there to know when a chicken is going to start laying eggs

[subhanalah]

I have three 20 week old hens, super huge red combs and squatting, separated hip/pelvic bones and no egg in sighed ... Kinds feel they will never lay when I hear all these 15 weekers lay

do you have nest boxes for them? Is there a little incentive in there to lure them?

Watching my chickens lay, I believe having an egg under them helps them expel the egg...similar to a birthing ball?

 

[missnu01]

I had a dream last night that mine finally started laying, but nope. If the haven't started by next month I'm turning them all into pies.

 

[subhanalah]

I had a dream last night that mine finally started laying, but nope. If the haven't started by next month I'm turning them all into pies.

women who are trying to get pregnant have dreams of being pregnant and pregnant women dream of giving birth....This is the chicken version.

 

[bobshere]

Do they have enough light? If not put a light bulb on early morning to increase the light to 16 hours.

 

[weschchick]

I have 2 Australorps and 1 Buff Orpington. They will be 20 weeks on Tuesday. Their combs have really grown in these past few weeks and I think they are pretty red. They free range most days, but I also keep them in their coop/run occasionally if we are out of town. I have had them since they were 9 weeks old. They used to stay pretty close to the coop when I let them out, but in the past week they have begun to explore the entire property - they even sit on the deck chairs! I am thinking this new exploring might be because they are getting ready to lay. I have had nesting boxes in the coop since we got them and I do not want them laying outside if I can help it. Should I keep them locked in the coop/run to help teach them to lay in the boxes? We are heading out of town on the 23rd - so with our luck they will probably start laying while we are away...
Thanks for any advice!

The buff - Kyle - was also making a lot of noise last night. I went running down to the tree they were under thinking there was some sort of predator around, but I didn't see anything. I have never heard her so vocal, it was very cool!

 

[jtn42248]

I have 2 Australorps and 1 Buff Orpington. They will be 20 weeks on Tuesday. Their combs have really grown in these past few weeks and I think they are pretty red. They free range most days, but I also keep them in their coop/run occasionally if we are out of town. I have had them since they were 9 weeks old. They used to stay pretty close to the coop when I let them out, but in the past week they have begun to explore the entire property - they even sit on the deck chairs! I am thinking this new exploring might be because they are getting ready to lay. I have had nesting boxes in the coop since we got them and I do not want them laying outside if I can help it. Should I keep them locked in the coop/run to help teach them to lay in the boxes? We are heading out of town on the 23rd - so with our luck they will probably start laying while we are away...
Thanks for any advice!

My hens started laying at about the 20th week and for the most part they lay between sun rise and noon. So, if you can keep them in their run with coop access until then they may lay only in the provided nests. Let them out after they have done their job with eggs and you will find that they discover the schedule and are at the gate waiting for you to let them out, and they get grumpy and complain if you are just a little bit late.

 

[LauraSac]

I have 2 Australorps and 1 Buff Orpington. They will be 20 weeks on Tuesday. Their combs have really grown in these past few weeks and I think they are pretty red. They free range most days, but I also keep them in their coop/run occasionally if we are out of town. I have had them since they were 9 weeks old. They used to stay pretty close to the coop when I let them out, but in the past week they have begun to explore the entire property - they even sit on the deck chairs! I am thinking this new exploring might be because they are getting ready to lay. I have had nesting boxes in the coop since we got them and I do not want them laying outside if I can help it. Should I keep them locked in the coop/run to help teach them to lay in the boxes? We are heading out of town on the 23rd - so with our luck they will probably start laying while we are away...
Thanks for any advice!

I'm too much of a newbie to offer advice, but we're going away on the 19th and I had the same fear. Luckily, the first started laying a week ago today and the other on Friday. Mine don't free range unless I'm home. They won't even free range unless I'm outside, and with the number hawks we have, that's probably smart. Anyway, it was last Sunday when one of mine hopped onto the arm of the chair I was sitting in to say heh, then she got down, went back to the run, up to the coop and into the nesting box. She did some back and forths for a while before laying her first egg that afternoon. I do have wooden eggs in the nesting box, and I put up curtains for privacy, but it's amazing how they just know what to do and where to go.

Mine are on an afternoon schedule so far, which considering the heat seems like a bad time to be inside the coop (though I do have a bottle of frozen water wrapped in a towel in the nesting box). I'd like them to change to morning, but I don't think they're regular enough as it is. Janet laid 4 eggs since last Sunday, her first day, and Penny has just laid her first, which was on Friday. They don't have a schedule yet. They're RIR's, so they'll be pretty prolific in their laying once they do. I'm impressed that Janet laid four eggs her very first week, and she's gone up to the nesting box a couple times today, so that will make 5 in 8 days. She's working hard for a young gal.

They normally are in their run until early evening, though, when I get home from work, and then they get free range time. But on Fridays through Sunday, they always have mornings in the yard, and sporadically throughout the day. I'm probably not helping them with their egg laying schedule, but they love being outside taking baths in our little meadow (the only benefit of a drought - lots of dirt bath locations) or just pecking around.

 

[LauraSac]

Penny laid her second egg early this morning and it had a little blood on it. I've read this is normal for a new egg layer. Has anybody had this happen? She seems perfectly fine and there's no blood on her.

Janet's doing awesome. 5 eggs in her first 8 days of laying. She always lays in the hottest time of the day. For her sake, I wish she'd lay in the morning.

 

[jennyg]

do you have nest boxes for them? Is there a little incentive in there to lure them?

Watching my chickens lay, I believe having an egg under them helps them expel the egg...similar to a birthing ball?

Yes I have three egg lays so I have 2 boxes and a fake egg in each box they squat immediately, scream, huge red combs seriously think they are messing w me lol

 

[RenaG]

Here is a picture of our BO Blondie. We think she is about 15 weeks old and she is way more red and bigger comb than all of the others. She has also started squatting in from of me an sitting on my lap. Can't wait for her to start laying.