Girl acting strange? Getting ready to lay first egg?

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. My birds were sleeping in the nest boxes. I would put milk crates in the nest boxes in the evenings and take them out in the mornings for a week. It seems to have worked. I did it with my hens and with my pullets.. Also I put a golf ball in each nest box. I would also make sure the roosts are higher than the nest boxes. The birds tend to go to the highest spot to roost. My original roosts were at the same height as the nest boxes. I have raised it to just above the boxes. It's no fun when they get used to sleeping in the nest boxes and then you reach in and get poopy eggs. This happened to me in the beginning. I thought it was cute. I finally got tired of cleaning the poopy eggs and the poop out of the nest boxes..

 

[AK Michelle]

My oldest girls are going on 20 weeks. I am getting so anxious to see my first eggs...

Michelle

 

[amamaofmany]

Our standards are all nearly 16 weeks. One black star has her red comb and nice sized wattles, she is squatting, spending a lot of time sitting in the nesting boxes and she occasionally sings the Egg Song, but no egg yet! She woke me up early one morning singing so loud that I heard her through the walls of the insulated coop, through closed windows. Thought we had an egg for sure that morning - but I was wrong! She must have been rehearsing.

We also have a brown sex link, a red sex link and our silver-grey dorking that are getting quite red in the face and comb, getting very obvious wattles and they are all starting to jump in and out of the nest boxes, too. All good signs. But the best sign of all will be when we finally see our first egg!

The others are in various stages of getting red, and some, like the EEs and a few of the cuckoo marans don't have wattles at all yet.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Wondering if your chicken laid an egg!! Our White Faced Black Spanish hen is doing the same thing as you described. Lots of sitting, staying away from the rest, but seemingly fine. My son thinks she's preparing for egg-laying. I hope so!

 

[teresac]

No eggs from any of them. I recently heard that from first year chick I shouldn't expect any eggs until next spring! They have had chicks all their lives. I don't know. I was really disappointed when I heard that. I guess I am in a waiting game.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
This is very strange; makes no sense to me. My first egg this year was at just over 19 weeks; last year it was 17. BO's might take just a bit longer but the BR's should start very soon. You'll soon see this this was not correct!

 

[MIKE555444]

Quote:
That is not correct... I expect you will have eggs all winter from these young pullets....

Its worth the investment of all the hard work and expense to make sure these chickies have grown up healthy.... isn't it? You just can't be sure how well someone else has cared for grown chickens.

My BO's are 17 weeks also... so i'm very impatient myself....

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Well it's too early in the year for me to do math and figure out weeks to months, so:

My chicks were hatched March 14th and 15th. How about yours?
I have a whole menagerie, and not a one of them is laying yet.

Tell me when yours hatched and we'll see if they're neck in neck.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

I have:
RIR
White Orpington
White Rock
Red Laced Blue Wyandotte
Black Langshan
White Faced Black Spanish
Blue Andalusians
Light Brahma
Buff Cochin
an unknown

 

[AK Michelle]

Mine were hatched between April 5th and 12th.

Mille Fluer d'Uccles, a Black Silkie, 2 White Silkies, (All my blue and splash were boys

, and 2 Dorkings.

In theory... They should be about 21 weeks, more or less. So hopefully I will start getting eggs soon.

Michelle