When do pullets begin to lay

Look carefully at the combs and wattles of your pullets around the time they are 18 weeks old. It may seem a bit strange but think all of these weird and unusual things the human body does as it goes through puberty. Some chickens will begin to inspect the nesting boxes around the time they are getting ready to lay.

Some might even practice sitting in the nesting box, which can cause any chicken lover a great deal of excitement! This being said, even if your girls are checking out the nesting boxes, they may still be a few days or weeks away from laying. This bizarre gesture is a subtle and flirtatious indication to a rooster that they are fully matured and ready for some funny business.

It is also a tell-tale sign that your pullet are going to lay an egg at any moment! Once you see your pullets doing their squats you can rest assured that there are eggs on the way! These are the three most typical signs that a chicken is getting ready to lay however most Chicken Ladies have a deep connection with their flock and are able of intuitively sense when their girls are ready to produce their first eggs.

At the end of the day though, your flock needs to be happy, safe and healthy, otherwise their laying days might not last very long. Ensuring that your girls have a beautiful coop they can be proud to live in, like the Taj Mahal , Penthouse and Mansion , is a sure fire way to promote productive laying conditions.

It can be stressful and worrying when things aren't going well with your chooks. We chicken keepers want to do an eggcellent job when caring for our feathered friends. From herbal treatments to disease prevention, make sure that you've got the knowledge you need to raise happy, healthy chooks.

Our feathered friends over at Chickenpedia have created a Chicken Healthcare Course. It is a comprehensive online course that covers everything you need, including what to look for in an unhealthy chicken and how to support your egg-laying hens to optimal health. All of their courses are really well structured and filled with vital information, which is why I highly recommend them to all of my readers!

Check out Chickenpedia today and as a member, you will also get access to the ALL of their chicken courses! Sources and further reading. Just click the Request Help button and fill in the form.

Ask an Expert. Thank you for joining our mailing list! All Rights Reserved. Menu 0. Continue Shopping Your Cart is Empty. Chicken Behavior Chickens Eggs. One of the most eggciting times for a first time chicken owner is that glorious moment when the pullets lay their first eggs!

Most of the time these questions only create unnecessary nerves and frustration, when what your flock needs most is patience and support. As you wait for your chickens to lay their first egg you need to be a composed, calm and caring, not nervous, anxious and overbearing. Here are some of the best things you can do for your pullets as they get ready to lay their first eggs.

When do chickens normally start laying? To do their best work, laying hens prefer at least 16 hours of light and 8 hours of dark. If your hen reaches 18 weeks of age during the fall or winter when daylight hours are shorter, then consider adding supplemental light to the coop. It only takes about watts of incandescent light per square feet to encourage hens to lay eggs.

You can also use an equivalent wattage fluorescent or LED light for your flock. Without supplemental light, young hens may wait until days get longer in the spring to lay their first egg. The most important change to make when chickens lay their first egg is chicken feed.

From day 1 through week 17, feed chicks and pullets a complete starter-grower feed with higher protein and lower calcium. Backyard Poultry. Nutritionist, Companion Animal Technical Solutions. To help hens lay strong and stay strong, provide them with these necessities: Prepare chicken nesting boxes in the chicken coop.

Consider chicken coop light. Switch to a complete chicken layer feed. This change may even jumpstart egg production. The earliest you should transition to a layer feed would be around 16 weeks of age. Do this if you are combining a flock of new hens with an older flock in the same coop.

Chicken layer feed should include 16 percent protein and 3. Calcium is a key nutrient when it comes to the egg-laying process. Thanks for writing! There are a variety of reasons why chickens stop laying eggs: Annual molting, stress, lack of water for even a few hours , or aging hens.

Are your chickens molting currently? If so, they are either growing new feathers, which coincides with a lowered egg production, or experienced a stressful situation. That can be caused by a predator being nearby, not enough food, not enough water, or intense heat.

If they are not molting, the problem could still be lack of water, lack of food, or too much heat. Our Rooster has been limping now for 3 days, he doesn't make a sound, he mostly lays there all day, we checked the hock to see if it was out of joint, seems fine, the right hock feels warmer than the left hock. Any suggestions that would help us? He is eating laying down and occasionally gets a drink. We have been giving him low dosage of ASA. Thank you, hope to hear from you soon.

Did you check the bottom of his foot for any redness or swelling or lesions? If so, he may have Bumblefoot and you need to call a vet. Or, if the scales on his leg are raised, he might have scaly leg mites; spread castor oil or vasoline on the leg and see if the scales go away. Thank you for all the wonderful information and ideas!

I am new to this but grew up with chickens Hi i keep laying eggs and they are of different age,of late when i'm collecting the eggs i normally find a smaller egg like for a bird. Pullets can start laying eggs around 16 to 32 weeks, depending on breed and other factors. This can happen for a month or so, until her system gets adjusted to its new role.

This is normal. This can also happen occasionally in older hens. If, however, the hen continues to do this regularly after she is fully mature, she should be checked by a vet. I hang my chickens upside down tie their feet together on a fence post and use my very sharp pruning loppers to cut off their heads. They aren't upside down very long and they are calm. Also, they don't flap around afterward and they're already in the draining position.

It seems to be the least stressful method of harvesting that I've tried. I bought 6 13 month old hens about a month ago. I have been reading up on the subject, and it seems to vary on what people say.

Also know, I'm not new to owning a flock, but it has been awhile. Anyway, its been a month now, and not one egg. They seemed to be molting when I got them too, in February?!

I have never had this happen in any flock Ive cared for in the past. Curious to any opinions and advise. Oh I should probably add, healthy birds, nice poop : no mites that I can tell. They do seem to fixate on the food and water, I have no idea of their previous conditions. We have 10 year old laying hens, which are doing very well with 2 roosters. Is it possible to add new laying birds to current stock without the old picking on the new birds?

We would like to add more to increase egg production for upcoming years. Our hen house is large enough to add more stock without any difficulty.

We would only add hens no increase in rooster stock. I have 8 laying hens various ages. I want to make sure I'm not underfeeding them, while not also wasting food.

What you feed your chickens will depend on several factors, such as age, breed, and type of feeder. A 6-pound hen will eat roughly 3 pounds of feed each week.

They may eat more in winter than summer. Water consumption may vary with certain factors, such as temperature. In hot weather, an adult may drink more than in cold weather. I have 5 hens not even 1 year old yet Hens can stop laying for several reasons, including health, stress is another hen picking on her?

A guess might be that it is day length. Many breeds stop or slow laying during the winter months because of the decrease in daylight.

Hens need about 14 to 16 hours of light per day for egg production. Put a timer on it so that the natural light and artificial light will total about 14 to 16 hours. If you do not need the eggs, it is fine to let the hen rest without adding the artificial light; it is part of her natural cycle. Also make sure that the coop is warm — cold can slow egg production. Check for predators; if they appear around the coop, it can cause stress, which in turn may slow egg production.

Also check for pests and diseases. Good luck! How do I stop my roosters from breeding my hens to the point of making the girls feathers come out to bare backs and putting holes in their legs? I had a rooster that almost killed a hen. Feathers fell out, wings were pulled down to the bone and red skin.

We put a topical on her as a rooster repellent. Sorry that I forgot the name of it. But, it helped and another think we did was to get a few more adult laying hens. It refocused the rooster. Most roosters need about hens to stay occupied and to stop the picking on just one hen.

At least, that is what I have been told by folks more experienced than me. Short of that, it may be time to have some rooster stew. Thank your for your detailed description of caring for chickens. You mentioned that year old chickens don't roast well; I think you mentioned stewing them. Once I bought a couple of chickens that I watched being killed, and hung upside down for draining the blood. The chickens were dipped in hot water, feathers pulled out, the innards taken out, and put into bags for me to purchase.

I took two chickens home but I could not roast them in the oven, and I probably tried stewing them, but they were rubbery!!! You state that year-old hens aren't tender enough to roast. Now I know those two chickens I bought must have been too old to roast. Now, years later I know. Sincerely, Ozelia Ruth.

You are lucky to have had Hopi for 15 years! And Hopi was lucky to have you. She had a long beautiful life. I have 2 isa brown chickens. The chicken was about 3 months old when I purchased last year in July Can you tell me whether she is too old to lay any more eggs or there may still be a chance to lay eggs, after such a long period of time?

Fall is a normal time of year for chickens to stop laying eggs as the sunlight decreases and they molt, but 7 months is a long time. She's not that old. Another common reason is dietary, though it sounds as if your other chicken is laying. See this page to learn more. I have 8 Rhode Island Red hens that are a little over 2 years old and I was getting 7 to 8 eggs a day, now I get 1.

Any ideas? Fall is molting time. If your chickens have been laying nicely for a year or longer then they'll shed some feathers and stop laying for a while. The molting is triggered by decreasing daylight. They'll return to laying. Adding a lighting program could also help in the future. When we first got them right away the next day we were getting on average of 2 eggs a day.

Then after a week they stopped. We were just giving them some sweet feed we had, so then we bought laying mash, which was pellets. Meant to get the chopped. Anyway we don't know what to do. I have some chickens, recently I had one sitting on a nest She wouldn't eat or drink anything unless I hand fed and watered he. She wouldn't get off the nest, yesterday I found her dead in the lot and 1 baby hatched. Can you maybe tell me what happened, her comb kept getting dull and faded.

It's possible that she had mites. I'm lucky my birds have red mites, but many are clear colored and you just can't see them. My birds are OK until they're broody. Sitting around in the nest box all day being bloodletted gets them anemic.

I noticed that just as babies were hatching my bird was looking exhausted. I thought the peeps kept her up all night, I gave her food, water, etc. I had no idea why I was getting bug bites. I knew my birds were itchy after the long hard winter -- but keeping them cooped up with the heavy snows led to dirty oily birds and tons of bird mites.

They need to bathe. I messed up. I caught her before she was too far gone, started cleaning up around her and her babies, now her babies are 8 weeks and she's OK, her color is back in her comb. I used diatomaceous earth, boric acid, and offered them sand, DE and wood ash in addition to their normal dirt for bathing in. Sunlight, dust bathing, etc.

But the 2nd hen to set a nest -- I kept an eye on her. Still mite issues. I might never get rid of the buggers. I kept her hydrated and fed, cleaning up around her, etc.

Got her and her babies out of the nest as soon as the hatched. It's about 2 weeks later seems OK. Sure enough - mites. Look for them, check information online -- there's some bug bomb type of stuff but I didn't want to subject birds and babies to it. Thanks for this! I think that's my birds' problem. They're leghorns, and our winters aren't so bad in southern New Mexico, so my birds only slow a bit in winter, have never stopped; so when all my birds started losing feathers and stopping laying at once, I knew something was wrong.

Diatomaceous earth I got mite bites from holding one of my birds that was close to death. It was horrible. If you make a dirt bath in a large plastic bin with regular dirt AFTER you've taken the mitey birds and treated them fully with the DT. Meaning holding them over a wheelbarrow filled only with DT and take handfuls and get it down to their skin and move it all around, especially around their bum and under their wings Do this everyday for a week or so and it does get rid of them.

Then leave the dirt bath with the DT available to all your birds and that should keep the mites at bay. I have one rooster and different kinds of hens. I found a hatched chick today and none of the hens seem to want to be the mother. Sooo, I'm taking care of it inside. When it gets large enough to go out, I'm sorry kinda embarrassed, does the mating with it's father affect anything or should I coup the new chicks separately?

If they mate do I need a different rooster? Once the chick gets old enough to fend for itself, it should be fine with a rooster. Every rooster is different. Some are too aggressive and others are nurturing. I have a flock of buff chickens of different age. I purchase about 6 new ones every couple years to keep up with egg production.

Get leg bands and mark your birds by year acquired. Keep track of which color is which year. Is it true or false that keeping a rooster with my laying hens will keep them laying longer, and more regular than if I did not keep a rooster. The rooster keeps them safe from hawks and other predators and keeps a look out at all times. It seems beneficial to keep a rooster for these reasons. My neighbor disagrees and he keeps his hens without a rooster and is upset when my rooster comes over to mate with his hens.

Please help me with these questions. Thank you! To us, the question "to have a rooster or not" is about whether you want fertilization and to hatch eggs -- or if you simply want eggs for the table.

If it's the latter, a rooster is not needed, unless you just want one! A rooster will warn of predators but many folks who raise hens have a safe enclosure so that predators are already deterred. There is at least one other for getting a rooster. When I bought my current flock of laying hens 8 of them , it wasn't long before they were little more than clucking targets. A family of hawks dive-bombed the, an opossum killed one, local dogs and cats stopped by for a free chicken dinner.

It wasn't pretty. The little dude made the hens his within 24 hours. He acts like a LA gang-member. He took on the biggest hawk the first day. No more hawks. He took on two big dogs and a medium size cat within two weeks. They packed up and left too. There were two additional benefits: this year we they hatched our first chicks and I did nothing. Mama and Rudy handled it all. Chicks are doing fine. The second benefit was that the various dogs and woodland creatures that were always tipping over my trash cans finally had to go out, get a real job and make an honest living.

Go Rudy! I grew up with the chopping block and axe but was somewhat uncomfortable with it myself. We used "gentle" killing of our ducks so I decided to try the method with chickens - works great. Kneeling, place the body of the calmed chicken between your legs. Bring the neck forward long and straight. Dig the fingers of one hand into the neck just below the head and hold the head and neck firmly.

Taking a sharp knife - I used a hunting knife - draw it firmly across the neck from below. One good cut will do it; if you have to do a second it is usually merely to cut the vertebral column.

We hang them in the trees until they have bled out but that wouldn't be necessary as most of the bleeding occurs very quickly. Lay a steel bar across their neck right behind their head, step on both sides of the bar and pull their legs. The chickens head will come right off. We butchard hundreds of chickens this way growing up. Keep a turkey fryer with boiling water handy to dip them in before pulling the feathers. Keep your freezers full. She may not be ready to lay eggs yet, they start at their own pace.

Every hen is different, just as every person is different. There are many factors that come into play. She may not feel comfortable enough with you or the area she has to lay them. Many hens will not lay if they feel scared. The amount of day light may not be long enough.

She may not be getting enough of something, malnourished. Or it could just be that she has one and cannot push it out. If that is the case. She may just absorb the egg back into her body and recycle it. She could be sterile, meaning that she cannot make eggs, it happens to a lot of animals. Of course there is the possibility that she is laying somewhere else, hiding them. Herself or other hens could be eating them. I say just wait and see what happens.

Calm down. It's just like human puberty, everyone starts at their own pace. Some won't start laying until they are a year old. Others start at 5 months.

Give it time. Until then, hold her. Get her used to you. Spend some time with her. Feed her from your hand every once in a while, to make sure she has enough. You should pick them up and hold them, almost daily, until they are about 10 weeks old. Then weekly after that, so they stay used to you.

Please I need help. I have 60 broiler parent stock which they are 8month old. Check if they are getting enough water--too little can cause the birds to stop laying. Is the water frozen? Also, make sure that the birds are getting a balanced diet, about 16 to percent protein. Make sure the feed also has enough calcium. Are they molting? If so, that may be a sign that their bodies are just resting and recharging for another round of egg laying.

Good layers will sometimes lay for about 50 or 60 weeks and then go through a rest period. As daylight hours decrease, egg laying is sometimes affected; hens need about 14 hours of daylight to lay eggs. If daylight is below that usually October through February , providing a little extra artificial light for those lost hours, might help.

One Cooperative Extension site recommends adding one watt light per feet of coop; turn the lights on in the morning for those added hours, so that the birds can roost at sunset. Stress also can cause a hen to stop laying--are there any predators or other things about that might scare them?

New routines? Changes in environment has their area become damp or chill, or too hot? Age and diseases may also affect laying. I have 8 hens: 1 3-y. Langshan, 1 2-y. Cuckoo Marans, 2 1-y. Ameraucanas, 2 1-y. Barnevelders, and 2 m. Black Copper Marans.

The Langshan hasn't consistently laid eggs since her first winter and she hasn't laid any eggs since this last spring. I fully expected the others to stop laying when going through molt, but not the new young, Black Copper Marans. I expected them to start laying in July, which they did, and keep laying through the winter. No dice. What happened to the Langshan and the Cuckoo Marans? Why are they no longer laying eggs? Why did the BCMs stop laying so soon? They are in a very large pen 30x90 and they also get rotated into other areas in my yard with netting 50x They get grass, bugs, table scraps only fresh and what they like , and organic feed.

I rarely find eggs in odd places. A fox came through 5 weeks ago and grabbed one of the Ameraucanas, but I scared him off and saved the hen. She was already molting when she went on antibiotics. I did not expect her to lay again until the new year.

She is back to laying and I can't use her eggs because of the antibiotics. Hi I live in Oak Point, Manitoba. I was wondering if there is a way to find out if we are allowed to have chickens, and what guidelines we need to follow.

Any help is appreciated. I am a newer chicken owner. We currently have 29 hens of mixed breeds that are about 18 mos old now we got them as chicks. It's been a bit alarming as we thought we had another 6 months of good egg laying yet from our ladies. They all act healthy, lively and are eating good - both garden scraps and layer feed. I haven't seen a ton of feathers lately, but did notice some molting earlier this summer. They have a large run, that is shaded with free access to water and I even have grass growing in boxes for them to get access to fresh grass when they want to, as well.

No bug infestation, snakes, etc that we can find to cause stress. I do suspect that my Golden Laced Wyandottes are fighting as they're missing feathers along their heads they actually look like Turkens!!

Would that be enough to stress the whole flock though? Your chickens are probably molting loosing their old feathers and growing new while in their molt all the energy that normally goes into egg production goes into new feathers. They will start laying within weeks, depending on the breed and age of the chicken. Do chickens stop laying when the nest get full?

We were on vacation for two weeks and returned to 3 full nests. We have not gotten any new eggs since we returned. Did your chickens start laying again, and if so, how long did it take for the laying to restart? I have 2 hens. Returning from a two weeks holiday we had 27 eggs, just 1 short of normal. Apart from the day after we got back, one of my chickens is not laying. It has now been a week since we got back. Are chickens still good to eat at 3yr old. They are black sex links which are good for laying and eating.

So are they still good to butcher and sell? My girls laid all winter long! They come when i call and love the fresh sprouts i give them once a week! Why do all of my chickens want to lay in the same box? We have enough boxes for all of them but they all want in one box?

I have a chicken question that I couldn't find anywhere online. We live in Northern Idaho and the days get short quick in the late fall and winter. We have done pretty good in keeping our chickens laying, as we had a heat lamp and light in the coop. But a couple of weeks ago we lost our electricity to our coop. The egg production dropped off rapidly. They were out of the extended light for a couple of weeks almost. But we did get everything hooked up again. But it has been 10 days and still no eggs.

Will we get more eggs this winter do you think or is it a lost cause until the spring? Happy New Years to all and I just joined today. As other members have posted my 6 hens only produce 1 or 2 eggs a day. They went through molting about 2 months ago and I live in central PA; getting colder of course but have good size pen and protection from cold. I feed them mash, corn, and provide grit; always plenty of water. Should I try a different food?

I give them some scraps but not a lot. I keep straw in their nests and they like some around the ground area. Any suggestions are most appreciated. They are nice pets but I'm still buying eggs! When I was a boy, I had chickens for a 4H project. She put them in a pot of water and warmed it up.

I took it out to the chicken house and placed it in the middle of the pen. Bingo, they started laying again I continued this for the duration of the cold weather. Please keep all comments on topic, folks, or they will be deleted.