When will my Americauna start laying?

[nancy1zak]

Our Americauna is about 30 weeks...about 6 months. All our other 7 chickens are laying and have been laying for the past month. (3 Buff Orpingtons, 2 RIR, and 2 Bantam Cochins). We keep looking for a green egg and nothing yet. My husband said he saw her in the nest box yesterday and the day before...but, still no egg.

 

[speckledhen]

Do you have Ameraucana or Easter Eggers? My Ameraucanas usually begin laying between 22 and 26 weeks old. One of my EEs took until about 40 weeks to get going. It really depends more on the individual and in some cases, if it's a breeder type bird or a hatchery bird. Ameraucanas should lay blue eggs, not green, though. If you have EEs, you may even get a brown egg from them, being mixed lineage.

 

[SpringChickens]

One of the best ways to know what color egg she's going to lay is to look at her comb. If she has a straight comb, she'll more than likely lay a brown egg; a pea comb is more closely linked to blue/green eggs. This could possibly be the problem? You can also feel her pelvic bones - if they are close together, she hasn't started laying yet, but if they are wider (2-3 fingers apart), then she's either close to laying or has already.

Either way, my EEs started laying relatively early - between 16 and 21 weeks, but they are all different. It depends on hatch date as well individual genetics/preference.

 

[nancy1zak]

This is what she looks like. She also has green-ish legs. She is very camera shy...so this was the best I could get of her. I am not sure the difference between Americauna and EE. The lady I got her from got her from Murry McMurry and said she was an Americauna. She is impossible for me to capture, so checking pelvic bones isn't something I will be able to do.

 

[feathersnuggles]

Feedstores and hatcheries call these "Ameraucana" or "Araucana" or they use the combo term "Ameraucana/Araucana". My feedstore used the latter, combo term for their day-old chicks. I learned the hard way, after having read up on what to expect from Ameraucanas or Araucanas, that those places are selling EEs. I used google to search for more descriptions of Easter Eggers. Here's a couple. (you'll have to remove the dash in the second link, because for some reason BYC changes it when I post).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Egger
http://www.c-hickencrossing.org/easteregger.php

Don't get me wrong, I love my EE. She's great personality, lays green eggs, and is very pretty. She laid her first egg at 28+ weeks old.

 

[teach1rusl]

Some EEs do lay white or brown eggs. Is it possible that she's laying, just not "colored" eggs, so another hen is getting credit??? Or she could be a late bloomer. If she's been sitting in the nest, I would think she's either laying or getting ready to.

 

[schellie69]

I have 3 bantam EE"s and they started laying early however my one true Americuana did lay until this spring and I got her last summer some chickens are just slower to lay. and I think you have an EE but they are great birds and come in a lot of different colors

 

[onionheadtg]

i have 9 chickens and most chickens start to lay at 5-8 months but mostly about 5 months

 

[nancy1zak]

OK. So she is not really an Americauna, but an EE? She is not very social and runs away from us all the time. I will have to watch more closely and see if she is laying or just checking out the nest for future possibilities.

 

[FiveHens]

Yeah, could be a "dud" ameraucana; lays white/brown eggs and you haven't been noticing that she's part of it.
However, if she's hanging out in the nest box, she probably getting ready to lay (if she's not already.) Keep your eyes out!