Who else is waiting the impossible wait?

[HHandbasket]

I am not 100% sure on the actual age of any of my chickens (other than the day-old chicks I acquired last Friday LOL). At any rate, my pullets are all 13-18 weeks & nobody's laying. I have noticed signs of maturing in the face and comb of my barred rock, Juanita. The leghorn, Felipa, is also getting pinker in the face & comb every day, and her comb is finally starting to become more developed. Bertha, the EE, is really developing into a GORGEOUS bird & I hope she lays soon (she's the oldest at 18-20 weeks, though again, we are not 100% certain of her age, either).

I don't think my welsummer will lay for awhile, as she has had a rough summer and has been ill (almost had to cull her); but she's on antibiotics and electrolytes and is improving and growing! She's the youngest of my flock anyway, so I don't expect her to lay for a while. Good thing because if she was laying, we couldn't eat her eggs for a while since she's getting antibiotics (one more injection... I hate doing those).

These are my first chickens & the wait on eggs is frustrating, exciting, and fun all at once! It's great that I'm getting to know my chooks right now anyway. I just want Felipa to start laying 'cuz you know how leghorns are. She's feisty & flightly & will probably be that way until she lays.

Felipa, Bertha, and Rhoda (the Rhode Island red) have all been kinda squatting a lot. They'll be foraging around the yard, then stop, squat, sit there a minute or a few, get up, flap, and keep going. Is that the squatting behavior everyone talks about?

I don't think we'll have any eggs for a while, but we'll see. Hopefully soon.

 

[Cheep]

Has anyone posted this?
My hens are 19 weeks & nary an egg; I'm reduced to watching egg-laying videos

:

 

[Whitewater]

Can't remember if I've posted here or not, yet, don't think so . . .

I am right there with everybody. Got 3 pullets, one's an 18 week Black Australorp, the other two are a 19 week old Black Australorp and a 19 week old Black Sex Link, we think, though both the hatchery and the hobby farm where we bought them as teenagers thinks she's an Australorp too, even though she has a pronounced golden brown strip under her throat, down her chest . . . . , The one 18 week old gets a pass because she *just* started turning red and growing wattles, etc, but the other two have been showing signs and have had fully red combs and wattles (and I mean, as red as the plastic on their feeders!) since Independence Day weekend!!! They shove the fake eggs and shavings around in their nest boxes, they make that 'Bawk bawk BAWK' noise (though now they appear to be using it when I arrive with the green goodies . . . go figure . . . ) and their bodies are definitely in that rounded, plump, 'hen' look rather than the angular youngster profile.

No eggs. Not a single one. No fart eggs, no tiny first-time eggs, no evidence of eggs being eaten, nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch.

On the other hand, nobody is squatting either, not for each other and certainly not for me (they still run away from me, they've only been here a month and don't know me yet).

Around here, my friends have stopped asking me if I've got eggs yet! It's starting to become a joke -- "Whitewater's chickens aren't laying eggs, har har, maybe she oughta read 'em the manual again?' etc etc.

I try to tell people that quite frankly, I don't expect eggs for at least another week, because 18/19 weeks old is still pretty young, but then they act like I'm just in denial. Nope, I've got big dual purpose birds and they aren't designed to mature fast. It's frustrating, and I am NOT a patient person, but my pullets are on their own timetable, and I just have to learn to cope.

Somehow. Right now the preferred coping mechanism is hopefully looking into the nest boxes more than once a day, and bribing them with BOSS and flax seeds (which bar none, are their favorite treats in the whole wide world, even better than steak!) to lay, and giving them encouraging pep talks like "The sooner you lay eggs, the sooner you get yummy layer feed . . . " or "The more eggs you lay, and the sooner you do it, the less likely it is that we'll have Col. Sanders over for lunch . . . "

And yes, I've been reduced to begging. "Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaase start to lay!" And they cock their heads and go 'Kurrrr' at me, like they're saying, "We have no idea what this crazy female wants. . . "

I just want an egg! Or two!


Whitewater

 

[chickenprincess92]

The one hen I thought was going to lay first turned out to be a roo. GRRRRR!!!

 

[buzymom13]

Well I'm with everyone here ... My chickens are about 17 wks...and I know we're still in the "too young" age but it's terribly frustrating when you see their combs and wattles getting bright red and all...

(I'm not good at waiting for Christmas presents to be opened either...lol)

BUT...today we got our first egg...and it was laid in the nest box....

AND it had no shell!!!

So now we're waiting for our first GOOD egg... this one was busted and yucky on the bedding...

Back to waiting....

 

[chickenprincess92]

I have been checking 3 times a day is anyone as egg crazy as me? I really want an egg!!!!

 

[lizzy06019]

Quote:
LOL... I watch chicken videos too while waiting for those first eggs. What a great chicken in this video! And she actually rolled the egg to her owner when she asker her to

 

[chickenprincess92]

My hens are 13-16 weeks still no eggs!

I am soooooo tired of the wait!!!

Please lay soon!

Guess i am still stuck waiting

 

[chickenprincess92]

I tried telling them that they will be inside a happy meal if they don't lay.

The next time i checked on them someone was in the nest box.

I found the easter egg moved and a feather in there!!! :yiipchickMaby they will lay soon.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
LOL... I watch chicken videos too while waiting for those first eggs. What a great chicken in this video! And she actually rolled the egg to her owner when she asker her to

Okay, that's the sound MIFChick has been making. Does this mean she's going to lay soon?