[SamnElla]

Hi There All,
My 28 week old faverolle has decided that NOW would be a good time to start laying !
It is currently -8 degrees and we are getting about 8 hours of daylight (8am - 4pm)
My two older girls (Marans and Barnevelder) stopped laying about a month ago.
What I would like to know is is this normal, or is the chicken we have christened "Big Dopey" just acting true to her name, and is there anything we could do to help her out a bit (extra food etc)?
Thanks in advance

[arugula]

I've had them go off the lay and into moult from about October time before and starting to lay again at about this time of year.

[joyfull]

some of mine have just come back into lay along with some of the younger girls that have just started - so all in all pretty normal 

[SamnElla]

This is her first lay( she's from the first 3 we've raised from eggs), the other two from the clutch look like a blue cochin and a faverolle X something smaller (random fertile eggs from a local breeder ), are they likely to start laying now as well, or will they wait a while (does it depend on breed ?)
Sorry for all the questions but I've never had adolescent chickens before !
Thanks

[daisy1990]

I think generally speaking chickens do what they want when they want.  I bought three at the same time from the same breeder, only one has laid so far and she too started in the middle of the cold snap.  The other two show no signs of being bothered.  I also bought six quail who laid one egg for two days in a row then stopped!  Clearly I wont give up the day job!

[GrannieAnnie]

One of the Barred Plymouth rocks we got as babies in Maytime laid her first egg today!

[SamnElla]

I think she's started something, in fact I can no longer be sure that it was Dopey that has been laying, Wee Costly the faverolle X has been getting herself in a guddle and displaying some distinctly nesting behaviour!
I'm going to have to keep a good eye on 'em-unfortunately can't eat any of the eggs for a week as they've been on the antibiotics and flubenvet
Thanks for the advice and let's see what the new year brings !