when do Ameraucanas start laying?

[omilona]

I got 2012/13's girls October 1...4 Black Austraorps and 4 EE as 12-16 week started pullets from Murray MacMurray. The Aussies have been all laying for weeks. Nothing from the EE girls who are now, at minimum 7-8 months. My girls from last year from a local breeder were 2 SLW (turns out banties) who layed first and were absolute laying machines. Then my true Ameraucana chicks from that purchase, one of the hens turned out to be a rooster, 4 of the hens layed around 6 months and one not until 9 months. The 2 cuckoo marans, one died at 6 months and the last one has layed 6 eggs in her entire life, I kid you not, and is the bully of the bunch.

 

[allison finch]

I've not seen a hatchery sell purebred Americaunas yet. They sell EE's and call them Americaunas. The only source for purebred Americaunas is usually from specialized breeders. If you have any doubt, you can go to the Americauna Breeders homepage and check out the color standards for purebreds. If the eggs are green....EE.

 

[pagetmiranda]

I got 3 ameraucanas on March 3rd, they where a couple of days old I got my first blueish egg at the end of July almost 20 wks old I have been getting one every 4 to 7 days . the fist one was almost just like a robins egg only a little lighter in color . they now almost normal size of a average egg. I'm pretty certain its just the one laying and waiting for the other 2 to kick in. by the sounds of it I'm pretty lucky. Hope this reply can rub off on you

 

[Mychicks56]

I have 4 SL 3 have started laying at 16 wks my 1 Rhode Island hasn't yet or my 2 ameracaunas I'm thinking end of September , One sexlinks laid a rubbery egg

 

[ajchase]

Ours started laying at 21 weeks, we get a blue egg every other day now.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've not seen a hatchery sell purebred Americaunas yet. They sell EE's and call them Americaunas. The only source for purebred Americaunas is usually from specialized breeders. If you have any doubt, you can go to the Americauna Breeders homepage and check out the color standards for purebreds. If the eggs are green....EE.

Actually not 100% true. Cackle hatchery does sell pure Ameraucanas (black and lavender) as well as the standard EE. The price is telling at $10.90 - 14.00 for Ams, and $2.15 for EE. Kudos to Cackle for truth in advertising!

I have EE in my flock, as well as some pure Ameraucanas. IMO, the EE win all contests regarding frequency of lay, as well as start of lay. My EE have consistently been among my earliest gals to reach POL. I also prefer the EE egg colors to those of MY Ams. I think the EE egg colors are a richer, more vibrant color.

Often onset of lay can be complicated by the age at which she arrives at her expected age of sexual maturity compared to the summer solstice. If she's arriving at sexual maturity late in the summer, or early fall, she may very well delay that first egg until after the winter solstice, when the days start to get longer. Diet also plays a roll. Birds on higher protein reach sexual maturity earlier than those on a lower protein ration.

 

[GardenTillers44]

We have 2 blue-gray Ameraucanas we got as 10 wk pullets from a specialty breeder who shows his birds. We wanted to make sure we got "real" Ameraucanas, not EE. We aren't interested in showing the birds, so we got his "culls", which look fine to us. The first small blue egg appeared at the beginning of week 21. We are at the end of week 23 and both have been laying increasingly larger and darker blue eggs every 3-4 days. Very nice robin's egg blue. We feed them layer crumbles now and they have a large fenced lot to get plenty of grass/weeds/insects.

 

[aglandaetap]

mine started at 18 weeks i have heated chicken houses and feed them only laying mash allways works for me

 

[kaylalooney]

I have 2 amerecaunas (that’s what I think I bought, at least, we’ll see if the eggs are green or blue) they are just over 6.5 months old and neither have laid yet. One seems to be getting closer, the other one is a small, crazy, hyper hen and it seems like she’ll never lay haha!

 

[Lainers]

You've been very lucky. I once had a pair of hens that laid their first eggs at *50* weeks. And I'm positive that's how long it took, b/c they were the only white egg layers in the whole flock at the time.

it depends on their stress level, and feed.....