Monday, January 6, 2014

When Will My Chickens Lay Their First Eggs?

My bantam hens are seven months old now. They are certainly old enough to lay now but with winter time's shortened hours of daylight, they have yet to give me that precious first egg.


But as of a couple of days ago the signs are beginning to appear. Sunflower here I think will lay the first egg but only time will tell. Her comb has become a nice deep red and when I go into the run she squats now when I approach her. That is an instinct they develop for the rooster but since I have no rooster I won't take it personal that they think I am one.


Cupcakes comb is pretty red now too but she is not squatting yet.


However Daisy has a pea comb and it isn't quite as red and sometimes this goofball does what sounds like an attempt at crowing. It is pretty quiet but I can tell that is what she is doing a bad impression of.


I hung a bird feeder in the run to put their oyster shell in when they start laying. Chickens require some extra calcium to support all those egg shells they will produce.


A fake egg is in the nesting boxes so they hopefully get the clue to lay here. My other chickens all learned to without a hitch but not sure with these girls. I have not seen anyone climb in there yet which will be a sure sign an egg is not long coming.


So we are on egg watch. I have been told maybe not till February will we see any action as the days get longer since increased hours of sunlight can trigger the start of laying.

Ta-ta from the coop.


11 comments:

  1. Our spring chickens started laying in November. And they haven't really stopped, which is kind of weird. I hope you get some soon. Nothing like collecting eggs for breakfast!

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  2. Your girls are so sweet. Be patient, they will soon be giving you their daily gifts ;-)

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  3. We usually get our chickens in April and they start laying around September. The shorter days will stop them cold and we usually have to supplement with a light in their coop or we don't get much of anything this time of year.

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  4. I didn't know that about the squatting -- fascinating critters! :)

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  5. My chicken drinks milk, she expects it every morning now and chases the cats away so it's all hers her eggs have good shells i never make the connection before.
    Merle............

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  6. Very interesting...I love the idea of chickens...all my neighbors have them...just haven't gotten around to it yet. They sure are cute! have a great day!

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  7. I would have thought your bantams should be laying by now. They aren't hiding them anywhere are they? Being free roaming girls, ours sometimes find a nice inconspicuous low lying bush to hide their eggs. I only notice when the amount of eggs drop off, then I go searching :) Our bantams lay a heap of eggs, then go broody...and they make wonderful mothers :)

    Hope your girls lay for you soon :)

    xx

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  8. Your new chicks are too cute! Here's to many eggs in 2014. But last time I checked, the chickens had been banned! What happened? I'm sure you must have written about it. Happy New Year!

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  11. Squatting is usually a submissive, fear thing. Ours do that when a hawk flies over, they flatten to the ground. You might add some lighting to the coop for an extra 3-5 hours, otherwise you're kind of wasting feed. It will get their hormones going. If you can afford to wait they should kick in soon. Mine usually start laying at about 5 months or so, but I don't do bantams...

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