when will my hens start to lay eggs

C

CarolynEarley

New member
Joined
Apr 1, 2010
Messages
107
Reaction score
0
Location
Crete
Our chickens are now 21 weeks old and are happy and healthy. We thought that they would be laying eggs by now, but none have started. Should they be laying at this age or are we a bit premature in expecting them? If they should be laying by now is there anything we can do to encourage them, or might there be something we are doing that is discouraging them?
 
Hello, it depends on the breed and to a certain extent the hen itself! Some hens are laying at 18/19 weeks some can take 28/30 weeks- the bigger breeds are more slow to mature- you should see them starting to go red faced- they wil be bright red by the time they come onto lay (as long as you have red faced breeds)
They should be on layers pellets/meal now and don't worry -they will lay when ready- it's always exciting getting their first eggs.
regards, David :)
 
I'm relieved I'm not the only one, I've been wondering the same thing! :)

I have two light Sussex and 2 black rocks, we bought them at POL, but we're still waiting for our first egg. I just hope its not something I'm going. That's a great tip about the wattles, one of the light sussex is redder than the other so that might be an indication. Though I am not sure about my black rocks (as they don't have red bits!).

My trouble is my hens never go back into the hen house until its night time. How can I persuade them it would be lovely to spend a bit of time in their nest boxes instead of under the trees? :?
 
Hello, your black rocks will have red faces-when they start laying :)
When they start laying they will use the nest boxes- put some straw in them and a couple of dummy eggs- that will encourage them to lay in the boxes.
regards, David :)
 
Oh I'm such a novice! :oops: I didn't know Black rock had red faces. This is one of my black rocks (I thought I'd bought them at 22 weeks old), but looking at my little darlings they don't seem to be anywhere near maturity. The other one though you can't see her face is completely black, no hint of colour!
 

Attachments

  • hens.jpg
    hens.jpg
    95.1 KB · Views: 9,100
Ah thank you again!

What would I do without this forum! :P

Sorry Carolyn for hogging your thread.

Kindest regards

Charlotte
 
No problem Charlotte... I have been interested in what you have said. My difficulty is that we live in Crete and all the books etc. we have are based on the climate of England. Here is wall to wall sunshine (I am not complaining). The chickens here are all free range and you go along to the breeder who has them all in a shed and you get mixed breeds. He speaks very little English and we have even less Greek - we think they were 18 days old when we had them and they should now be 22 weeks. I think some of ours are ready to lay now ... but the area we have is vast so if they choose not to lay in the nest boxes we may never find the eggs! All good fun! We have ducks that are the same age, geese a month younger and turkeys a month younger again, to add to the chaos! Novice is an understatement for us ... :lol:
 
24 weeks old and we are still waiting for the eggs! They are sitting in the nesting boxes now and again and some are getting red faces, so .... hopefully not long now ;)
 
Our warrens were 13 weeks old when we had them... and 26 - 28 weeks when they started laying, so there was a looooooooonnnnnnnngggg wait !
:lol:

the light sussex photoed are less red in-the-face than mine, who are 16 weeks now, if thats any help! but no eggs here yet either...
:)
 
:o We had an egg!!!!!! :lol: The chickens are now 25 weeks old and one perfect little brown egg appeared on Saturday. :D There were none yesterday though. :roll: Bear in mind we have about 30 hens so expecting many more soon ... HURRAH! ;)
 
Resurrecting an old thread here, I'm wondering if there's a website out there showing comb & wattle development at different ages for different breeds?
I'm wondering how many more weeks it'll be before my utility Light Sussex starts to lay, & thus whether she's likely to start before the winter.
Her comb is still quite small & pink, & she has no wattles yet, but we think she's around 20 weeks old. Any ideas? :-)19
 
I have two black rocks and two light sussex they are all the same age 26 weeks the black rocks have been laying for 4 weeks now but the sussex are showing no signs of laying there combs and wattles are lovely and red its frustrating the only thing i can think of is that the breeder got there age wrong and they were younger than he said :D
 
With regard to onset of lay and different breeds there are so many variables it is very difficult to predict.
As a general rule, hybrids will come into lay earlier than pure breeds, light pure breeds before heavy breeds ..ie faverolles, cochins and brahmas which generally need a bit more time to mature.

Onset of lay is then determined by hormones, and the hormones that trigger this process are influenced mainly by the maturity of the birds and light..so if a bird is the right age for lay, but the days are shorter then onset of lay will likely be delayed till next February.

Physical signs of onset of lay are reddened face furniture, a gap between the bones on other side of the vent develops, in a pullet these bones are soft. pliable and closer together. The hen look overall a bit wider they become restlessness due to hormone surge, they can go off their feed for a little while and generally act a bit "fidgety".

Chicks hatched early..Feb/March usually come into lay late summer/ early autumn, later hatches often leave it until the next year.
 
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for our light Sussex. Having checked with the supplier, we think she's now 26 weeks old & she has developed wattles, though she doesn't yet squat when you try to touch her. She's filled out quite a bit in the last week or so though.
Thanks for your explanation Foxy; very helpful. Now all I can do is wait...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top