When do they lay & when can i expect them to be fertile eggs?

[ChickenWendy]

I have 3 Rhode Island Red, 2 Black Austrolorp, 2 Buff Orpingtons, and 1 EE - all girls. All except the EE are 17 weeks old. When should I expect some eggs? Also, they free range and the sun is starting to set around 6PM here now. And it rises by 6:45AM. I have 2 roosters - a Buff Orpington & and EE Rooster (both 17 weeks old). The EE girl is only 14 weeks old.

So with saying all of that, when should i expect eggs? When should i expect them to be fertile? and when should i expect my roosters to crow? Let me also add i just had to put my very mean 6 month old Black Austrolorp rooster down on saturday and he crowed all the time. Would that have anything to do with my 2 little guys not crowing at all yet?

thanks for any help.

 

[newchickmom]

One of my australorps just started laying at 20 wks. I don't know about the others.

 

[SillyChick]

Around 5 months(20 weeks) old they will start laying. They'll be laying soon! I bet you're very excited. My RIR hen is 3 1/2 old and I am too excited!

Roos usually start to crow at around 15 weeks of age. Your roos are to crow very soon.

At 5 months old roos will become interested at mating, but the eggs will not be fertile. The roo will be able to fertilize the eggs at around 1-2 years of age. Yeah, I find that to be a very long time(I want to have more baby chicks!).

Good luck and happy laying!

 

[MissPrissy]

Not all pullets will begin to lay at 20 weeks. Some of my best layers didn't start until after 24 weeks and then I still had some that didn't lay until 30+ weeks. This has been a really odd year and lots of folks have talked about how the hens were laying later than ever this past season.

Then pullets need to lay at a constant rate for a good month or more so that the eggs are good size and are nice and healthy before you even think about incubating any of them.

As far as the cockeral he will start trying to mount them as early as 5 months or so. This doesn't mean he is fertile and it doesn't mean they are fixing to be at point of lay. Like all things it takes a some time and practice.

The one sure way to check fertility is to crack them open and look for it.

Speckledhen has thread with photos so you can see what you are looking for.

 

[MissPrissy]

How to Tell a Fertile vs INfertile Egg (Pictures)

 

[ChickenWendy]

thank you. i did see that post on how to check for infertile & fertile eggs. that was very helpful. the pictures were awesome. i have a friend who has leghorn hens with a barred rock rooster and she is getting fertile eggs as well as fertile pekin duck eggs. i will probably try some of hers first at incubating.
with my girls i just wanted to know when to possibly expect an egg. every thing i read said around 20 - 24 weeks but you guys here are the experts and tend to give exacts over averages!
and i was curious about the roosters as i couldnt really find info on when they are hitting there mark. my little guys seem so young and dopey!! but i admire that quality in a rooster!!