When Do Hens Start Laying?/Share Your Laying Experiences

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Here's an interestibg one. Yesterday morning one of the older hens hopped in the nest and I was still in the yard when she came out, so I opened the hatch to retrieve the egg and there were two-one the size of a banty egg! Never saw that before... I don't know if it's possible to get a 'double' or another hen was in there first and laid an undersized egg, or what... Only BA's in the enclosure and they've always laid roughly the same size eggs. There are a couple immature pullets in there, but they shouldn't come into lay for another couple months-they're 12 1/2 weeks old.

I cracked the small egg yesterday morning and there was no yolk, just the white...

 

[nate1the1great1]

Lol

 

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Quote:
This was mildly entertaining when it first happened, now I'm getting one or two eggs per week. The humor has flown... Has anyone else had undersized yolk-less eggs laid?

 

[273816]

Update:

Turns out two of my three beautiful babies are roosters. They're going to a farm tomorrow where they keep chickens and ducks. Very sad to see them go and devastated that Beatrice will be without her sisters after being together for almost eighteen weeks. It's a very sad day for me today and even worse tomorrow when they go. Luckily Beatrice has our two new black Australorp chicks; she loves them.

Thanks for all your help guys,
Rachel.

 

[bruceha2000]

Very sad to see them go and devastated that Beatrice will be without her sisters after being together for almost eighteen weeks.

Isn't 2 of the 3 sisters being male somewhat of an oxymoron? And not knowing until they were 18 weeks, very harsh reality check.

Sorry for your "loss", I was extremely lucky and happy that all 12 of mine were girls. Don't know where I could send the boys where they wouldn't be eaten.

 

[jakenhyde]

I bought14 day old Golden Sex Link chicks at Murdoch's in Butte, Montana on the 7th of March, 2014. The first egg I got from my pullets was laid on July 14, 2014. Now(8/11) all the pullets are laying. They're eggs are still small. But the chicks I bought last year, same breed, are laying very large brown eggs. The folks who buy eggs from me agree that they are the best eggs they've ever used. They beat store-bought eggs to smitherines.
I keep my girls in their pen until about noon every day. Then I leg the out to roam around my five acre property here in Sheridan, Montana. If I let them out too early, they lay eggs under my front deck where I can't get to them. By keeping them penned until noon, most all the egg laying for the day is done.
Even though they have five acres to roam around, they all make it back into the coop by sundown. We're starting to get our usual August/September run of grasshoppers and it's hilarious to watch the girls chase after them. Jim Schwindt

 

[BarbParks]

I have 2 chickens, mine are Orpington's, one black and white, the other is red. I had never had chickens before but decided to give it a try. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my chickens. They just started laying last week, I'm getting 2 eggs a day! I was ecstatic, only 1 egg, but I took picture's of it and sent it to my boyfriend, who has chickens, himself, he just shakes his head, and tells everyone that my chickens are DIVA's! He's right! They don't have a chicken coop, they have a chicken condo! I feed them crumbles and a little scratch, and throw in some dehydrated millworm treats. Now they are laying, should I be feeding them something else? Someone mentioned I should also be feeding some type of crushed oyster suppliment. But I don't know. So please help!

 

[1cutechick]

I have two hens we bought mid April. Do not know what kind they are. We just purchased 6 more leghorns and were told 1 of them had just started laying. We have 3 eggs so far since last Thursday and assume it is that hen that is laying. My question, since we have 8 hens how do we actually know who is laying if we don't see them do it? Thank you.

 

[mychickchick]

I have 2 leghorns and 1 buff I got them May 5th at about a week old. One of my leg horns laid an egg at about 6 weeks it was small but have been laying 1 egg a day since. I was really surprised!

 

[Turnedfifty]

Belle laid her first egg today, 5 months and 11 days. She sang her egg song for the last 2 days. She is a Mille d'Fleur. Hers is the smaller egg, the bigger one is from Loretta who is a Barred Plymouth Rock.