Would chicken lay a egg at 16th week?

[Aynur]

I have Speckle Sussex chickens. One of them laid first egg unexpectedly at 14th Feb. Their birth is October 7th. So they are 16th weeks. To be honest, with my little knowledge , bunch of read, I was not expecting this early. Mid March , April...Maybe... It is small, half size of normal egg. And good healthy, solid shelf egg. 2 days later. Another same size of egg. (I think the same chicken, could not figure out which one yet). I was still on Grower feed as packages indicates for layer feed , I shall start at 18th week. Should I start layer feed and oyster shell?

Of course, the one on the right is the first egg.

 

[Judy]

Yes, on the layer feed -- for all of them. You may not need oyster shell, or at least not yet.

It's unusual but has hapened before. Even I, with my small flock, had one start at 14 weeks once. The hatcheries are breeding them for more and more eggs, evidently.

 

[aart]

.....or..... you can keep feeding grower and offer oyster shell in a separate container.

I like to feed a 'flock raiser' 20% protein crumble to all ages and genders, as non-layers(chicks, males and all molting birds) do not need the extra calcium that is in layer feed and chicks and molters can use the extra protein. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat.

Calcium should be available at all times for the layers, I use oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container.

Animal protein (mealworms, a little cheese - beware the salt content, meat scraps) is provided during molting and if I see any feather eating.

The higher protein crumble also offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer.

 

[Aynur]

Thank you for the information.

I made Oyster Shell available last night..
Egg shells as described, prepared...
Got layer feed, organic non-gmo scratch grains. Will do some mix with herbs, probiotic, kelp, yeast and start feeding with that.
I was adding some part of pellet that is for "molting", since I see bunch of feathers, but no indication of naked body.
Meal worms, they are not crazy about them anymore.
They seem crazy about safflower seeds. I am hoping they are getting extra protein from them.Opening container even alerts all of them.
I put 1 tea spoon apple cider vinegar in 1 gallon of water, they seem ok.
I also feed sprouts / weed grass / broccoli / organic cooked brown rice / cabbage white-purple as daily treat. (when they eat broccoli, their poop smell more than usual though)
They are still in basement setup since coop is still in building process.
No dust bath is available yet, they are using pine shaving/ Diatomaceous Earth, sweet pdz mix

Anything you see, I should avoid?

 

[aart]

Thank you for the information.

I made Oyster Shell available last night..
Egg shells as described, prepared...
Got layer feed, organic non-gmo scratch grains. Will do some mix with herbs, probiotic, kelp, yeast and start feeding with that.
I was adding some part of pellet that is for "molting", since I see bunch of feathers, but no indication of naked body.
Meal worms, they are not crazy about them anymore.
They seem crazy about safflower seeds. I am hoping they are getting extra protein from them.Opening container even alerts all of them.
I put 1 tea spoon apple cider vinegar in 1 gallon of water, they seem ok.
I also feed sprouts / weed grass / broccoli / organic cooked brown rice / cabbage white-purple as daily treat. (when they eat broccoli, their poop smell more than usual though)
They are still in basement setup since coop is still in building process.
No dust bath is available yet, they are using pine shaving/ Diatomaceous Earth, sweet pdz mix

Anything you see, I should avoid?

I would not have my birds dust bathing in DE, especially in my house...it's a serious respiratory hazard.

I would cut most of that stuff out of their feed regime......no need for making things so complicated.

I like to keep things simple...a good balanced chicken feed has all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals they need and should be available to them 24/7. Feeding too many other foods dilutes those nutrients, vitamins and minerals and seeds could be adding too much fat. Any 'treats' should be no more than 10% of the daily volume intake.

Just my opinion, others will disagree.

 

[Aynur]

I would not have my birds dust bathing in DE, especially in my house...it's a serious respiratory hazard.

Thanks for the opinion.

Well, it is very thin sprinkle of DE in their bedding right now. Just in case. More Sweet PDZ, 3/4 inch high Pine shaving... But, probably I can avoid until they are out.