My hens usually start laying at around 6 months old, so yours should be riiiiiiigghhhtt on the cusp of lay. :) Make sure you provide plenty of nice, dark, private hidey-hole types nests to choose from, and expect the first burst of laying to be sporadic and to get some small, odd or soft shell eggs at first until the girls get their act together. :)

You might want to take an egg out to the girls and SHOW it to them, or place it in the nest and talk softly but excitedly to them, praise them....especially if you don't have a roo...YOU may have to play the part of the roo and make a big deal about the egg. I did this once for my girls when they weren't laying, and I swear it worked! *L* Wierder things have happened....

Hey, if we are placing bets on who will lay first, my money is on the Rhodeys!

Velvet ~:>

sullicorbitt,
They say 19 weeks which is pretty acurate. My "new girls" are just starting to lay now. If you'd like a couple of my gals, email me. I was just told i have seven days to get rid of all 23 birds, not counting the 2 toms. I'm in Western MA if anyone is interested.

Dan

Dan, thanks for your very kind offer. I tried e-mailing you but your e-mail is not linked to your GW members page. Unfortunately I am maxed out in my coop at the moment but I find your offer very tempting. I do know there is a poultry auction tomorrow at the Topsfield fairgrounds and I also know of a couple of other places you could post via the internet to find homes for your girls locally. What breed are your girls?

Velvet, thanks for your response :) our nesting boxes are just as you described, I actually saw one of my barred rocks testing one out the other day but she must have been just practicing because there were no eggs to be found.

I really need to just forget about it for a while......but it's so hard :)

-Sheila

I know how you feel! i got mine on may 16 th. two weeks ago, i got a egg!!! then, for the next 6 days, i fot 1 egg, then, i got 2 eggs! now, i'm getting 4!!not a lot from all the hens i have, but they're getting ahead of hubby now.
why do you have to get rid of your hens, dan?

14 hours isn't enough when the weather turns cold.

My hens started to slow down production about 2 weeks ago, so last week I started my light up and leave it on all night.
About 5 days later, eggs are back! I know someone who has 500 chickens and says they never slow down egg production in the winter. They leave the lights on all night.

No, it doesn't make the chickens crazy...
when they get tired,they sleep.

Sullicorbitt, Congratulations on holding them back! I would be very pleased to let my birds develop and not start laying until that age or a little later. I much prefer even modern egg laying machines to be held back until 23 or 24 weeks old. Egg size then tends to be slightly bigger throughout lay, and I believe they also last that little bit longer in lay during their first year.

So far as artificial lighting is concerned, I would leave them at 14 hours unless you wish to produce eggs for an income, in which case you could increase by half an hour a week up to 16 hours - 17 if you absolutely must. You might be interested to know that in more civilised parts of the world it is illegal to give any farm animal, including birds (except when very young) 24 hours a day daylight, and rightly so. They must all have an unbroken dark period of a minimum of 7 hours in every 24. Ignore advice about the ambient temperature having anything to do with the amount of daylight required. There is absolutely no connection whatsoever.

I have never, ever, put golf balls, artificial (or real) eggs in nest boxes and consider it all a total waste of time and effort. They will find the boxes and lay in them when the time comes. If you give the additional daylength in the mornings (use a timer) and leave them in until 5 hours or so after "lights on" you should have no problems with hens secreting clutches of eggs outside their night shelter. I reckon my long term average (over more hens than you are likely to see in your lifetime) is about one in 200 that refused to lay in the boxes provided. Old McDonald.

well i believe i have 4 blk sex links, 4 buff orp.,2 barred rock, 6 slw, 6 americana and 2 speckled sussex. the 6 amer. were a mistake, but a good one..lol. the boys (5 and 4) race to see who will get the green egg every day. as for the getting rid of 1/2, might not have to. gramps has a few connections so we'll keep our fingers crossed. if u need any help let me know. dan

we have barred rocks,rhode island reds and buff orphintons and assorted leghorns. THe rhode island reds and leghorns have been laying all summer 8-9 eggs a day and our buffs and barred rocks just started laying at 4 months...the eggs are small pullet sized but we get 1-2 eggs a day from them. they have slowed down considerbly and we are down to about 4-5 eggs a day wich is still more than we can eat. I sell them at work and sell probably 4-5 dozen a month. We dont plan to give them electricity thru the winter as we dont have the barn wired (yet), so we will see how many eggs we get this winter.....josette

Thanks for all your responses, I really enjoy learning about everyone's different experiences. I imagine the fact that it's been raining here for over a week doesn't help my girls much.

I do wonder what makes some chickens of the same breed lay early and some not. Out of the 16 birds we have I would think there would be at least one egg layed so far. Especially when I hear of other people around the country with the same variety laying much earlier.

I think what Old McDondald says about holding them off makes good sense from a health view point. I need to just let nature take it's course and go buy some eggs at the store. -Sheila