When Do Hens Start Laying?/Share Your Laying Experiences

[273816]

Aww cute! They're still a bit too young to be able to tell what breeds though.

Sorry to be a bother, but are you able to maybe tell the genders? Doesn't have to be spot on. Just what you think they are from the photos.

Thanks.

 

[Chicka and Co]

Sorry to be a bother, but are you able to maybe tell the genders? Doesn't have to be spot on. Just what you think they are from the photos.

Thanks.

I really don't know what genders, at this age it is nearly impossible.

How about you post some more photos at 6 weeks old +, that's when they start to have some more determining characteristics.

Although you didn't ask this, I just looked at the photos again and I think they could be hybrid layers. My original six hybrids (they have since passed) looked exactly like yours at that age. Yours don't have any particular markings/patterns on their feathers, that you can't see in the photos, do they?

 

[TheEggCollecter]

This is my beautiful chick Keisha, also the biggest, who never stays still:




This is the beautiful Mackenzie, the medium sized one, and also bit of a poser:




This is the beautiful Beatrice, the smallest:




Thanks

The last chick looks like a golden buff or production red.

 

[273816]

Here's to hoping they aren't roosters. If they are I won't be able keep them.

 

[Kellielf]

If you still have their information you could contact them and ask what kind they are. Figure that would be a lot easier than guessing.

 

[holm25]

LOOK LIKE THERE ALL PULLETS

 

[michiele]

Just guessing, but the first two have a roo look about them. Their heads seem more angular than the 3rd one. But, time will tell for sure. I just got 12 new chicks - mine are 2 weeks old. If I can get 6 girls out of them, that would be great!

Michiele

 

[Allieharmon]

The earliest one chicken laid her first egg was at 17 weeks. I have another who didn't start laying until she was a year old. But the other commenters are right. If it gets cold and they haven't laid yet, they will wait till the spring. There are very few times I have run through the yard screaming... The first was when my chicken Henrietta laid her egg at 17 weeks and the second was just a week ago when my broody hen hatched her first chick. In the past I had raised mine by hand but Eugenia kept going broody so I put 12 eggs under her and 9 hatched. Teenwithchicks, your babies are cute!!!

 

[bantambury]

I have 15 chickens, consisting of 3 roosters, 2 chicks, 3 hens, and 7 pullets.

my first hen began laying around 6 months, my silkie hen began laying 7 months, and my other hen is just an oddball.....she is almost a year old and has never dropped a single egg.

my 7 pullets are just about 5 months old. im not expecting them to lay until about 7 months of age, but they should be rather close. im guessing around July.





I wouldn't count your eggs until they are laid......you can always have a dud bird like the one of mine who hadn't laid.....she may lay sooner or later, but there isn't any real set time to lay an egg. each bird is different. since your birds are LF I would say 6-7 months and you will be set

good luck!

~Bantambury

 

[bantambury]

The earliest one chicken laid her first egg was at 17 weeks. I have another who didn't start laying until she was a year old. But the other commenters are right. If it gets cold and they haven't laid yet, they will wait till the spring. There are very few times I have run through the yard screaming... The first was when my chicken Henrietta laid her egg at 17 weeks and the second was just a week ago when my broody hen hatched her first chick. In the past I had raised mine by hand but Eugenia kept going broody so I put 12 eggs under her and 9 hatched. Teenwithchicks, your babies are cute!!!

where are you in NC? we may be local with each other!