When Will They Lay?

[atm21]

Hoping someone can help me! I’m curious when I should expect my hens to start laying. Here’s a few pics I tried getting the best I could. Hard when they move constantly lol. I have buff orps, welsummer, salmon faverolles, lav orps, silver Wyandotte, gold wyndotte, speckled Sussex. If the pics are too hard to tell I understand, I’m also curious when these breeds typically start. They are about 20-21 weeks old

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Should be anytime now. As they get ready to start laying, you should notice that their faces get more red, they start squatting when you approach, and they show an interest in the nest box. Mine also started throwing feathers and assorted lightweight ash and trash (leaves, odd bits of grass, weeds, etc.) over their shoulders. They’re getting pretty pink!

 

[Ducksandchickens]

Anytime time now!!! If they don’t start laying soon thought they may wait until winter. My hens didn’t start laying until about March actually. They were already late layers but when winter hit they didn’t lay until spring came

 

[Farmgirl1878]

My Littles are about thirteen weeks old and are juuuuuuuuust starting to get little pink faces! Their brother, the BLRW, has crowed once (sort of anyway) and just started dancing with the older pullets today. He’s still afraid of them, so will only dance when one of them is on the other side of the fence, but it’s a start. And he’s getting bossy with the Littles. Still not with me tho, loves to be stroked and cooed to as he’s falling asleep.

 

[atm21]

Anytime time now!!! If they don’t start laying soon thought they may wait until winter. My hens didn’t start laying until about March actually. They were already late layers but when winter hit they didn’t lay until spring came

I’m hoping they’ll lay through winter at least somewhat. I put a light in their coop a little over a week ago so they should be getting about 15 hrs of light. Hopefully this will help them.

 

[atm21]

Should be anytime now. As they get ready to start laying, you should notice that their faces get more red, they start squatting when you approach, and they show an interest in the nest box. Mine also started throwing feathers and assorted lightweight ash and trash (leaves, odd bits of grass, weeds, etc.) over their shoulders. They’re getting pretty pink!

Yeah I thought their combs and wattles are starting to get more red. It just sucks to wait for the first eggs lol. Some will squat I haven’t noticed a lot of interest in the nest boxes. I’m just hoping some will they through winter with a light.

 

[atm21]

Does anyone have experience or information on when these breeds typically start to lay?

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Yeah I thought their combs and wattles are starting to get more red. It just sucks to wait for the first eggs lol. Some will squat I haven’t noticed a lot of interest in the nest boxes. I’m just hoping some will they through winter with a light.

My Wyandottes started laying at about twenty or twenty-one weeks. Where are you located and do you have the lights come on in the morning?

My Salmon Faverolle and my Speckled Sussex are only about thirteen weeks old, so they Won’t be laying for another month or more. The SS is starting to pink up tho and now has little wattles, so she might surprise me.

The Wyandottes surprised us - we didn’t even have the nest boxes installed yet and one of them pooped out an egg at about twenty weeks. (I know, we really should have known, but they’re our first flock!) Now we average five eggs a day from seven pullets!

 

[atm21]

My Wyandottes started laying at about twenty or twenty-one weeks. Where are you located and do you have the lights come on in the morning?

My Salmon Faverolle and my Speckled Sussex are only about thirteen weeks old, so they Won’t be laying for another month or more. The SS is starting to pink up tho and now has little wattles, so she might surprise me.

The Wyandottes surprised us - we didn’t even have the nest boxes installed yet and one of them pooped out an egg at about twenty weeks. (I know, we really should have known, but they’re our first flock!) Now we average five eggs a day from seven pullets!

Wow I wish I was getting that many eggs lol! I’m located in northern Indiana. I have the lights come on in the morning about 5:30 am and then they go off around 8 pm. I’m thinking my Delawares are gonna be first but the last week a lot of them seem to be catching up to them so we will see I guess. I also have a lot of EEs but I know those typically take more time to start.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

I've got two EEers in the batch of youngsters. They're not even thinking about turning pink yet! As far as having "that many eggs" goes, it's a blessing and a curse. I just hope the neighbors don't get tired of eggs!

If possible, you might want to have your lights come on even earlier and then not have them on in the evening. If you can get up to let them out of the coop when the lights come on, or set your automatic pop door to open, that might be better. I think they might get confused if all of a sudden the lights go out in the evening! Mine would complain like gangbusters and would probably not be able to find their roost in the dark.