Wyandotte egg laying

[Noraaaaa]

Hi! This is not really about hatching but I was wondering when bantam golden laced Wyandotte lay eggs? I’m planning on incubating in spring. (Yes I have a rooster) Mine right now are *i think* 6 months old. All 3 look like this:

 

[CHlCKEN]

You may not get any eggs at all until spring depending on how much daylight you have.

 

[Noraaaaa]

You may not get any eggs at all until spring depending on how much daylight you have.

I get about 10 hours because I’m in Ohio, but they have a lit coop for 13 hours!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Wyandotte, Orpington, Silkies, Naked Necks, Delaware, any breed, they lay when they lay. If you read enough stories on this forum you'll see some of any breed that laid by 5 months, you'll see some that started months later. There is no set age they start laying eggs, certainly not by breed.

I've had pullets start laying this time of the year with the days practically the shortest they will be but still getting shorter. I've had pullets wait until the longer days of the spring. So with pullets or hens, you never know for sure what they will do.

The length of day isn't what has an effect, it is whether the days are getting longer or shorter. This doesn't always control them when they are to start laying but it can have an influence. Mine have laid well with only 10 hours of daylight and I do not use light. I don't see any big benefit in 13 hours a day versus 10 if they are not already laying.

Increasing day length can get them started laying. As red as that pullet's cob and wattles are she may not be that far off from laying anyway, though 6 months is still fairly young. If you want, you can extend the light time period by 15 minutes each day for 3 or 4 days, then increase it again. I'd stop increasing it when you added an hour. That may trick them into thinking days are getting longer and they start laying. One downside to this is that if you stop the lighting before natural daylight equals your day length they may think days are getting shorter and it's time to stop laying and molt.

For a hen or pullet to go from not laying to laying mode she has to make changes to her internal egg making factory. She needs to grow ova into yolks, that takes time. She needs to make changes to her plumbing. When she is not laying her internal egg making factory is pretty shriveled and dried up. She needs to fill it out and plump it up. Don't expect immediate results unless she was already getting ready to lay.

It often takes a pullet a while to get things right when she starts to lay. Laying is a pretty complicated process, lots of things can be off whether you see them or not. An egg needs to be pretty correctly put together to hatch. A lot of pullets actually get that right from the start but several do not. Plus the first pullet eggs are generally pretty small, especially if she starts laying at a young age. Even if the eggs are put together correctly there just isn't enough room or nutrients in the egg for the chick to grow very big. I've hatched those eggs, you can get chicks. But from my experience hatching them, I suggest you wait about a month after the pullet has started laying before you collect her eggs to hatch. You'll probably be happy you waited plus your weather should be better to raise the chicks.

 

[Noraaaaa]

Wyandotte, Orpington, Silkies, Naked Necks, Delaware, any breed, they lay when they lay. If you read enough stories on this forum you'll see some of any breed that laid by 5 months, you'll see some that started months later. There is no set age they start laying eggs, certainly not by breed.

I've had pullets start laying this time of the year with the days practically the shortest they will be but still getting shorter. I've had pullets wait until the longer days of the spring. So with pullets or hens, you never know for sure what they will do.

The length of day isn't what has an effect, it is whether the days are getting longer or shorter. This doesn't always control them when they are to start laying but it can have an influence. Mine have laid well with only 10 hours of daylight and I do not use light. I don't see any big benefit in 13 hours a day versus 10 if they are not already laying.

Increasing day length can get them started laying. As red as that pullet's cob and wattles are she may not be that far off from laying anyway, though 6 months is still fairly young. If you want, you can extend the light time period by 15 minutes each day for 3 or 4 days, then increase it again. I'd stop increasing it when you added an hour. That may trick them into thinking days are getting longer and they start laying. One downside to this is that if you stop the lighting before natural daylight equals your day length they may think days are getting shorter and it's time to stop laying and molt.

For a hen or pullet to go from not laying to laying mode she has to make changes to her internal egg making factory. She needs to grow ova into yolks, that takes time. She needs to make changes to her plumbing. When she is not laying her internal egg making factory is pretty shriveled and dried up. She needs to fill it out and plump it up. Don't expect immediate results unless she was already getting ready to lay.

It often takes a pullet a while to get things right when she starts to lay. Laying is a pretty complicated process, lots of things can be off whether you see them or not. An egg needs to be pretty correctly put together to hatch. A lot of pullets actually get that right from the start but several do not. Plus the first pullet eggs are generally pretty small, especially if she starts laying at a young age. Even if the eggs are put together correctly there just isn't enough room or nutrients in the egg for the chick to grow very big. I've hatched those eggs, you can get chicks. But from my experience hatching them, I suggest you wait about a month after the pullet has started laying before you collect her eggs to hatch. You'll probably be happy you waited plus your weather should be better to raise the chicks.

Thank you so much! Im not sure how old they are (they were bought a month ago) but they are def mature. They ate all of their oyster shells I gave them yesterday so mabey soon. Thank you for the detailed reply!