Would any of these breeds lay at 14 weeks?

Your vote for who is laying at 14 weeks?

  • Mille fleur d/Uccle bantam

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Bantam easter egger

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Buff silkie

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Silver spangled hamburg

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Red star (golden buff)

    Votes: 4 57.1%
  • Swedish flower

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Your husband is pranking you

    Votes: 3 42.9%

  • Total voters
    7

SalsaChick

In the Brooder
Jul 26, 2021
13
19
36
Left my husband and our five year old son to keep an eye on my ladies while I visited family out of town.
I found a cream colored egg, small-ish but not tiny, in the run today.
All of my gals are a 7/5 hatch date (so, 14 weeks?).
I can't believe any of them are laying already?!? When I had hens before I had to wait 22 weeks for my first egg.
We live in California, weather still lovely and they get lots of sun.
It's an enclosed run with 1/2" hardware cloth completely covering it, so I can't imagine that it's from a wild bird.
No one is submission squatting, I didn't hear an eggsong, and I'm dying of curiosity to know who laid it. :)

Are any of these breeds early layers?
??? Mille fleur d/Uccle bantam
??? Bantam easter eggers (I have two)
??? Buff silkie
??? Silver spangled hamburg
??? Red star
??? Swedish flower
Favaucana-- nope, not green
Black copper marans-- nope, not a brown egg
Cream legbar-- nope, color isn't right and she's nowhere ready to lay (comb/wattle)
 
If anyone, maybe the red star, though they would typically start from 18-22 weeks. Has she reddened up and is anyone 'squatting' for you? If you're not very hands on, they may not squat, but it's a good indicator of imminent laying or them already being on the lay when they do.

Heritage breeds tend to stick to coming into lay later than sooner, some waiting up to 6 months before giving you any eggs. Hybrids will generally be the quickest to start.
 
The most logical option is that your husband thinks he's clever. There's a very slim chance that the Production Red could have started early, but the earliest I've ever had a production bird start was at 22 versus 24 weeks.

Do you have a picture of this egg?
 
For what it is worth, all four of my laying pullets squat for me. None of them have squatted for my husband or daughter. I spent a part of an afternoon paying attention to how I moved that resulted in a squat vs how I moved that did not even though the movements were superficially similar... hand toward their back, lean over them, and such.

Hamburgs lay white, Red Stars and Swedish Flowers lay brown, d'Uccles would be very small, silkies probably smaller. Anomalies happen but I guess one of the easter eggers if it isn't a person playing pranks. With their variety of genetics it seems the most likely of the breeds you listed.
 

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