whats the earliest youve had a chicken lay?

[wcntygl]

I am new to chickens and after ready this link I am concerned. My chicks aririved on Feb 4th : 1 BO, silver spangled hamburg and 1 partridge rock. They are 20 weeks old, were kept on high protein until 3 weeks ago and free range all day, and they are still not laying eggs. Should I be concerned? They dont seem to be acting any different then before.
Thanks for your advice in advance.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I am new to chickens and after ready this link I am concerned. My chicks aririved on Feb 4th : 1 BO, silver spangled hamburg and 1 partridge rock. They are 20 weeks old, were kept on high protein until 3 weeks ago and free range all day, and they are still not laying eggs. Should I be concerned? They dont seem to be acting any different then before.
Thanks for your advice in advance.

I would not be concerned. Strains that have been bred for fast and furious egg production are one thing. A slower maturing, slower to point of lay, long living strain is quite another. Again, I'd not be the least bit concerned. Some heritage birds can take up to 30 weeks to begin to lay. They simply are slower to mature, which is often a very desirable trait, btw.

However, laying off site is a common thing among some free range, POL pullets. What's your plan to prevent this?

 

[wilbilt]

First egg today, 4th of July.

TSC mixed pullets brought home March 1st, so they are about 17 weeks old.

Miss Violet (named for the wound coat I sprayed on her when she got badly pecked months ago) was grumpy and growling this morning. Around 11AM, I heard the "egg song" being squawked and she was in a nest box. I peeked in on her and she was not happy, she just about tore me a new one.

A few minutes later, she was out in the run and in the nest box, there it was...egg #1. It seems perfectly normal, a mottled brown/white and fairly large.

 

[NuAgePaulBunyun]

Thank You 1ChickLady . our nesting boxes are removable so i think i will take them out for a bit until we get our first egg. will give me a chance to work on the inside of the run a bit more as well . clear out some space maybe put a few more roosts up so they can spread out a bit instead of clumping together on the present roosts we have in the coop.

FINGERS CROSSED for the first eggie . thanks again for all the help so far in this new venture.

 

[somadlyinlove]

I got 6 old english game creles on March 1 and I also got my first egg yesterday July 4. By my calculations they are 18 weeks. They are usually at least 2 days old at the feed store.

 

[1chicklady]

My 6 are all from TSC March 1st as well. A couple of them have been squatting for the past week or so, and they are all talking like crazy. I have one "Golden" that was in the coop by herself this morning making lots of noise, so maybe it is almost time.

We have a couple of chicks that love to stay together and away from the group most of the time. One of them talks, talks, talks almost constantly throughout the day. To my knowledge, not one of the girls sing their "just laid an egg song" but our rooster, Buffie, crows and he even cackles just like a hen when she's just laid an egg. The chicks on our farm when I grew up always cackled when they laid an egg. I'm beginning to think that some of ours are laying outside the nest and Buffie is tattling on them with his cackling. We've gone from getting 6 eggs, by the 2nd or 3rd day of their laying, to only 2 yesterday and so far today. Something is definitely up and I have to investigate to find out who's holding out or stashing. I'm pretty sure our Buff is laying because we're getting 1 egg that is a little lighter in color and a lot larger.

You said that you have a Golden. What is the difference in a Golden and a Red-Sex-Link? My husband was looking on BYC yesterday and came across a golden which looks almost identical to our, what we think are Red-Sex-Links. Do you know the difference in the 2 mixes?

 

[1chicklady]

Thank You 1ChickLady . our nesting boxes are removable so i think i will take them out for a bit until we get our first egg. will give me a chance to work on the inside of the run a bit more as well . clear out some space maybe put a few more roosts up so they can spread out a bit instead of clumping together on the present roosts we have in the coop.

FINGERS CROSSED for the first eggie . thanks again for all the help so far in this new venture.

Actually my hubby and I had reconciled ourselves to the fact that we might not see an egg for 5-7 months, as some had said, so we were extatic when we found the 1st egg along the fence in the run at what was actually 17 weeks 1 day, not the 12 weeks I mis-canculated by not counting thru the end of June.

 

[FreedomLover]

Well, today I caught the layer. It's one of our "red pullets" .. she was NOT happy when I was poking my nose in her business! LOL

And the first egg, that was really big compared to the following ones, was a double yoker I thought that was kinda neat.

 

[1chicklady]

Thank You 1ChickLady . our nesting boxes are removable so i think i will take them out for a bit until we get our first egg. will give me a chance to work on the inside of the run a bit more as well . clear out some space maybe put a few more roosts up so they can spread out a bit instead of clumping together on the present roosts we have in the coop.

FINGERS CROSSED for the first eggie . thanks again for all the help so far in this new venture.

We didn't take our nests out, we just sealed them off at the chick entry into the nests.

 

[1chicklady]

Thank You 1ChickLady . our nesting boxes are removable so i think i will take them out for a bit until we get our first egg. will give me a chance to work on the inside of the run a bit more as well . clear out some space maybe put a few more roosts up so they can spread out a bit instead of clumping together on the present roosts we have in the coop.

FINGERS CROSSED for the first eggie . thanks again for all the help so far in this new venture.

Just to let you know... we looked in on our chicks tonight, as we were preoccupied when it got dark, and the chicks were already in the coop on their roost. We wanted to make sure that they were all safe inside so we peeked through the window by their roost. You mentioned making some more roosts for your chicks. We have 8 birds and their roost is a 3 tier approx 36"x36". When we peered through the window, 5 of them were snuggled together on the top roost, 2 were on the middle roost and 1 was on the bottom. The majority either like being higher up or snuggled close together, since there was plenty of room for them on the other 2 roosts. I suppose it could have been the fact that we left the hardwire covered window open to a height just under the 3rd roost so that the lower 2 roosts were more level with the window opening. Perhaps they feel more vuneralbe on the lower roosts, should a predator pass by the window and see them.