Youngest pullet to lay an egg?

[WingItRanch]

Hi there!

I am (not so patiently) waiting for my 12 pullets to begin laying. I have Barred Rock, Easter Eggers, Welsummers, a Blue Australorp, and an Ancona. Plus 1 accidental cockerel- Olive Egger. My first chickens ever! They are 15 weeks old now.

I'm curious to hear your stories about the youngest pullet you ever had lay an egg. What age and breed were they?

Pictures welcome!

 

[MommyGirl]

The earliest I had was a sapphire gem she laid her first egg at 16 weeks

 

[FrostRanger]

Youngest I've had was a 17 week old cream legbar based easter egger. I think she was likely a cream legbar crossed with rhode island red or a rhode island red hybrid so that may have contributed to her being earlier to lay. Youngest ameraucana based easter egger I've had lay is Vanilla who laid a day before 19 weeks (literally came out of nowhere. Her comb is still small and still pink rather than red. I initially thought it was Ginkgo who appeared closer. Go figure). Easter eggers don't tend to be early layers on average but it's better for the bird if they don't. Earliest I've heard of a pullet laying though is 14 weeks. Don't remember what breed though

 

[FrostRanger]

The ever vigilant Vanilla

The late cantankerous Parsley

 

[WingItRanch]

View attachment 3892783
The ever vigilant Vanilla
View attachment 3892791
The late cantankerous Parsley

That pic of Vanilla is cracking me up! My EEs have developed black beards too!

 

[Logar]

Hi there!

I am (not so patiently) waiting for my 12 pullets to begin laying. I have Barred Rock, Easter Eggers, Welsummers, a Blue Australorp, and an Ancona. Plus 1 accidental cockerel- Olive Egger. My first chickens ever! They are 15 weeks old now.

I'm curious to hear your stories about the youngest pullet you ever had lay an egg. What age and breed were they?

Pictures welcome!

Sounds like we are in the same torturous waiting game . My chicks turn 15 weeks tomorrow but it doesn’t help that 4/6 are slow growing breeds. But my barred rock’s comb seems to be getting bigger so I am hoping to get my first egg within a few weeks.

Here is a picture of her from a couple weeks ago just for fun

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had two lay as young as 16 weeks. They were mixed breeds with dual purpose breeds in their background.

The latest I've had lay were Ameraucana from a breeder. They did not lay an egg until they were 9 months old. Two of them started laying within a couple of days of each other in December, the shortest days of the year. The breeder couldn't believe it, most of hers laid at 5 to 6 months of age. The pullets I hatched from those two generally started laying at 5 to 6 months of age. I can't explain what happened.

 

[WingItRanch]

Sounds like we are in the same torturous waiting game . My chicks turn 15 weeks tomorrow but it doesn’t help that 4/6 are slow growing breeds. But my barred rock’s comb seems to be getting bigger so I am hoping to get my first egg within a few weeks.

Here is a picture of her from a couple weeks ago just for funView attachment 3892851

She looks just like mine! Fingers crossed! I'll be using this thread to post when I finally get an egg.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Our Black Australorp, we had three lay at 16 weeks a couple days apart. Had one light Brahma lay at like 17.5 weeks (her sisters remained strong and laid at 24-26 I think lol but we've also figured they probably have some mix in their line somewhere, as two are as big as our BAs)

Our most recent olive eggers started at 17 weeks.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Just get quail and feed 30 percent protein game bird starter, you’ll have eggs at five weeks!