When will August-born chicks start laying

[GoChick]

My chicks were born on August 28.
Australorps, Barred Plymouth Rock, Wyndottes and EE.
Should I expect any eggs around mid January, and have nests ready, or will I have to wait until spring?

thanks!

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I would think it would have alot to do w/ each bird--not their breeds. Each one of my girls no matter the breed, laid at many different age and even on very cold days and very hot days....My EE were 32+weeks old and laid on the coldest day of the yr.. My BR was 25 weeks old when she started to lay...

 

[Judy]

What dixiedoodle said. You have several, so you will probably get some eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know where you live, with main interest being how soon your days start to get reasonably longer. Even if I knew where you were, I would not be able to give you a good answer. I'm not that good and chickens are very individual. Commercial laying operations keep the pullets on a restricted light until they get old enough to lay a decent sized egg. Then they will increase the light and they start laying. So I would really not expect yours to start until the days get noticeably longer. But pullets can be hard to predict. Older hens are more reliable.

In your case, I would open the nests up with fake eggs in them at about 16 weeks age. Chickens don't always read the rule book very well and even when they do, they get confused very easily. Or maybe they just don't like to follow the rules. It is possible they will start laying that young and you want the nests ready fro them so they get in the habit of laying in them instead of somewhere else. I really don't expect yours to start that young, but I like to know whether there are any problems while you still have time to fix the problem before they start laying. The type of problems I'd be looking for are them sleeping in the nests or the lip on your nest not being high enough and they scratch out the bedding and fake egg.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[BWchicken]

My 12 hens were hatched last year on 8/10/09 and almost all started laying that winter. Most started laying Dec-Feb, and a couple waited til March. So I'd plan to have the nest boxes ready! But don't be alarmed if some wait til spring. One thing about having fall-hatched chicks (if they come into lay in winter) is their first laying season is a loongg one, almost a full year. Mine are just now starting to slow down laying as the days get shorter. I'm glad about that though, I think their bodies need that yearly winter break from laying, especially this year since they've had such a long first laying season.