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- #81
Rachel. Always nice to have people from the far opposite side of the planet! And down there you have the ORIGINAL Black Australorps
As many have said, when they lay depends on, well everything. Expect NOTHING until 16 weeks at the VERY earliest. 20 to 24 is most common. The percentage I show below is the percentage of days a bird has laid since laying it's first egg including "time off" for moult and lack of winter sun.
- The first of mine to lay was a Faverolles at 19 weeks. Laid 3 eggs in 9 days then not another for 3 more weeks. The other Faverolles laid her first egg at 23 weeks but was steady from that time on. These 2 girls go broody A LOT and have only 32% and 44% laying percentage.
- The 2 Anconas started at 21 weeks, steady from the start. Have never gone broody but took off a LONG time after moult and have laid ~47%.
- The 2 Cubalayas at 21 and 22 weeks, also steady until moult, though SMALL eggs! They were peewees for months, but given the birds are 2/3 the size of regular LF, not surprising. Though, after moulting last fall and starting to lay again in late February, they are laying at the mid to upper end of USDA small, same as the Faverolles and Chantecler. They are more "yard art" than layers and have laid 20% and 28%. Same issue with LONG time off for moult and winter lack of sun.
- One Black Australorp at 22 weeks. She is Super Echo.She has laid 61%. She didn't moult until near the end of January and only took off 2 months. Most of the girls that moulted in the fall just went into "less light, no lay" winter mode. The other BA didn't start until she was 33 weeks. She has also always been larger than Echo. She was doing SUPER well until she moulted in September and didn't start again until mid February with the exception of 4 eggs in 12 days mid November. But she is cranking them out now. And she lays BIG eggs. Never smaller than mid range USAD Large (58g to 64g), usually USDA XL and frequently larger, the biggest was 104g. The big ones are always double yolks.
- The first Easter Egger started at 22 weeks, the other not until 30 weeks. But the second has been my second best layer at 58%.
- One Partridge Chantecler started at 22 weeks, the other not until after the second B.A. at 34 weeks. But, if she didn't have a habit of going broody, she would be way up there. Even with having to be broken (no rooster, no fertilized eggs) several times and many weeks off each time, plus moult, she is at 54%, laying 5 or 6 eggs a week, usually 48 to 50 grams so not quite USDA medium. AND she laid right through the winter, none of the other birds did.
With regard to knowing when they are getting close to laying:
Their comb will start to get red. CLEARLY very red, not just a little darker pink. About 2 weeks after that they will probably squat. All you have to do is pass your hand a few inches (cms in Oz) over their back and they will go down and flatten out as if something was actually forcing them down. Really funny. Sometimes they will squat if you even move toward them.
Bruce
Thanks. This was very helpful. I'll have to save this somewhere for future reference.
