age for laying?

[lynne]

Hello. My new hens are now fully settled with Daisy, my original one remaining after the fox got the others. All seem happy, and are feeding well, no more scuffles, and Daisy is definitely "top chook" ;o) Though I wish they wouldnt scratch out the layers pellets from the feed dispenser all over the run!!
When I bought the new ones, I was told they were 24 weeks, and pol. They must now be 26/7 weeks. Daisy has always given us one huge egg daily.

However, although one or two small new eggs were laid around a week ago, we have had nothing since, either from the new girls, or Daisy. They have Layers pellets in a covered feeder, plenty of fresh water, and (just in case) have been on flubenvet for past week. Until I am confident I can get them back, and until they are allowed out, they are also getting fresh leaves or grass plus a handful of mixed corn each, daily, in the afternoon.
I was wondering when I could expect them to start laying properly, and why Daisy has seemingly stopped laying? There is no evidence of egg eating, so Im not worried about that. Although they hop in and out of the nesting boxes, (lined with woodchip and straw) they have laid in the woodchp on the floor of the house so far. Daisy and the old girls always laid in a corner of the house, so we made a nest of straw there, but these girls continually scratch it up, and mix it with the woodchip - perhaps she is miffed her usual spot is being disrupted?
i was just wondering how long I need to wait before we get any eggs? Does anyone have any advice, and am I doing anything wrong? Lynne

 

[Marigold]

You are not doing anything wrong, and I'm sure they will all come into lay soon, once they've settled down. Moving house and integrating with new hens is a major upset for them, even when conditions are ideal, and hens often go off lay for a week or two until relaxed enough to get going again. The older hen may be thinking about going into her annual moult, if she has had a good laying season already this year, as this is coming up to the time when this might be expected anyway, and stress might precipitate it a bit. In that case she would stop laying for a few weeks anyway. The pullets had begun their first lay, but this process was interrupted by the move, so again it would be normal to expect them to be a bit irregular and spasmodic at first. This is the reason why many people prefer to get pullets at 16-18 weeks rather than when they are just beginning to lay, so the settling-in period is over by the time the eggs begin to arrive.
I would avoid making a straw nest for them in the coop - you really want them to use the nest boxes and alternatives will only delay this. My two oldest girls started laying in the dust bath, they looked really puzzled one day when I caught them both looking at this strange brown object which had mysteriously appeared! It's not only humans who have problems dealing with the practicalities of puberty!
I'm sure all is well, they are obviously very lucky girls and I'm glad they've all settled down happily together. Just be patient and those eggs will come. Do please update us when they finally get into the swing of it, won't you?

 

[Chuck]

You haven't said what breed or type of hybrid they are and it does make a difference.

Moving does cause them considerable stress as they have to adapt to new surroundings, even though outwardly they seem OK. It's not unusaul for them to start them stop after a move and the small eggs they laid were probably in the 'pipeline' before they came to you and had to be laid. I expect the older hen was affected by the strangers and will need time to adjust too.
Carry on with their new regime and unless you have some complete duds, eggs will appear shortly !

 

[lynne]

Thanks Marigold and Chuck. The older girl is a brown hen? no idea what sort, just bog-standard, she and the original girls came from a farm that was closing down. the new ones are a bluebell, a speckaldy, and a light sussex. The speckaldy one is REALLY vocal! not used to that! They are slowly getting used to me, and I can ALMOST stroke them, like I used to be able to with the others, and they now come close to me when I take the corn box out ;o)
I was told to expect blue eggs from the bluebell (never seen a blue egg?) brown from the speckaldy and white from the sussex.
Lynne

 

[Marigold]

Not sure about the blue eggs from the bluebell, but will be happy to stand corrected when she lays. Two of them, the bluebell and the speckledy, are hybrids and the Sussex will be a purebred if she's not actually some kind of Sussex cross, which are common. If purebred she may be a bit later getting into lay than the hybrids. My Sussex lays pale paper- cream eggs - not as big as the hybrids, but she's very regular and a loveable character though a bit thick, even for a hen.

 

[lynne]

thanks Marigold, think the sussex is a cross, as they told me all the birds were hybrids - said they were better layers than the purebreds they had?
it was them that said about the bluebell laying blue eggs, but I will let you know when we have some!

 

[Marigold]

It's possible the eggs may be blue if she is actually some kind of Legbar cross - there are a lot of them about and some may carry the blue egg gene, but in that case probably not a true bluebelle. Lots of hybrid vigour there, if you do get blue eggs - it'll be interesting to see how she turns out!
what's her comb like? Is it single, just plain spikes over her head, or sort of folded over, with crinkly bit, like a Legbars would be, I wonder?

 

[foxy]

thanks Marigold, think the sussex is a cross, as they told me all the birds were hybrids - said they were better layers than the purebreds they had?
it was them that said about the bluebell laying blue eggs, but I will let you know when we have some!

Hybrids are not necessarily better layers, they are generally more prolific layers in the first one or two seasons than pure breeds. All hens are hatched with a finite number of egg cells, the hybrids generally speaking use these up earlier, whereas the pure breeds can lay for a few year longer as they will still have egg cells left.

 

[Chuck]

Bluebells lay brown eggs. Depending on the breeding of the speckled she should lay brown, shades vary. The Light Sussex hybrid should lay a tinted egg, not pure white. Some of the Light Sussex type hybrids have a brown grandparent but some are a cross between two different strains of Light Sussex. All three of these are bred for the domestic market and are not bred to produce as many eggs as the Warren type hybrids and are therefore likely to lay for three or four years.
24 weeks is around the age you would expect them to come into lay but they are not generally as precocious as the Warren types, so you shouldn't have to wait long.