When did your hens start laying?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alyssa K on November 7, 2010 at 11:50am

I've heard 8 months, though I have yet to personally raise a chick from baby to laying.

Permalink Reply by James Griffiths on November 7, 2010 at 1:43pm

Mine are coming up on 5.5 and 6.5 months, I believe, and no eggs yet. But I'm giving them lots of love! And even food. I'm sure it will pay dividends soon.

Thanks Julia for starting this discussion so we can all grow a little more patience and know that we're not alone!

- James.

Permalink Reply by Ann Pacey on November 7, 2010 at 4:38pm

Hi
My 2 Dorkings are laying a couple of eggs a week, they're a little over 6 months old. James, you have one of their sisters. She should be laying soon. Ours produce a lovely pinkish egg.
The Buff Orpington and Polish aren't laying. They are the same age as Julia's 5.5 and 7 months.
Ann

Permalink Reply by robert murray on November 7, 2010 at 10:07pm

Some breeds may not lay till spring now. That's why it's important to add more artificial light to help get them laying.
My Chanteclere is still not laying and I think she has to be at least 7 months now.

Permalink Reply by James Griffiths on November 8, 2010 at 10:03pm

I do have solar lamps that provide 2-3 hours of light in the evening. I'll stay hopeful.

Permalink Reply by James on November 8, 2010 at 5:47pm

Got my chicks mid March; Australorp & Araucana started to lay by August, 2 weeks later the Partridge Rock & Orp started laying. So at about 5 to 5.5 months I got an egg per day from the hens till about October. Now with the shorter days, production has slowed down to about 60% capacity.

Permalink Reply by Tamara Shulman on November 10, 2010 at 7:03am

Our two Americanas were born end of March and started laying (much to our surprise) mid August. The Wyandotte began shortly afterwards. The only holdout is the Polish... but from the conversation here, it sounds like she (yes, she) is just fine. She gets extra cuddles to balance out the inevitable slacker jokes.

Even with no extra light we're still getting 1-2 eggs per day. I like the idea of the solar light to stretch the day a bit though.

Thanks all fo rthe updates. Tamara

Permalink Reply by Julia Smith on November 10, 2010 at 7:23am

I'm pretty sure my new Anadalusian should be laying by now. They are generally early layers but it seems like the rest of my slacker flock has told her that this is a non-laying coop!

Permalink Reply by James Griffiths on December 13, 2010 at 12:07pm

WOOT!  I'm in the game now!  Our silver dorkey Isabella laid her first egg today!  Nothing has changed much, though we did just switch to pellet food from mash, and I've been making slow improvements over the past month.  Also gave them an extra shot of oyster shell just recently.  I'm impressed - I had understood that she was the least likely to lay during the winter.  Isabella's almost 8 months old now.  The others are 7 months, not yet laying, but now they have a role model.  They all appear extremely interested in what's going on with their coop-mate.

Permalink Reply by Julia Smith on December 13, 2010 at 2:46pm

My mottled houdan, buff orpington and one of my polish girls are all laying now. We're getting 3 eggs almost every day now so that's pretty cool. I think we should have a couple more laying soon. We are lighting our coop which seems to help but then our other coop (where we have 44 layers in Richmond) isn't lighted and we're getting 22 - 30 eggs a day from them which is pretty impressive for winter time. I guess some breeds are just better in the winter than others.

Permalink Reply by Ann Pacey on December 13, 2010 at 8:25pm

Congratulations James. Isabellas sisters have been laying for about a month. They put out 2 or 3 eggs a week. Lovely pale pink, and getting larger.

Actually the Dorkings are supposed to be pretty good layers with a consistent, albeit slower rate in the winter.

I think our Polish has also started to lay (she's the oldest) because we are starting to get small white eggs. Our 4th is a buff orpington, which hasn't produced any eggs yet. She's the youngest of our group.

Permalink Reply by Alyssa K on December 14, 2010 at 7:15pm

The Colorado girls started laying on Saturday, December 11. (Well, I found 3 eggs in there that day, so they probably started Friday). They arrived here on October 30, and Rosie was molting then. So this is no comment on when young girls start laying, but my two at-least-one-year-old formerly daily egg layers both, took about a month and half after a 1000+ miles distance, 5000+ feet elevation move. :)