At what age should hens begin to lay?

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hendreary

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At what age should hens begin to lay?
« on: March 18, 2010, 17:17 »
I beleive my hens to be about 22 - 23 weeks old, I have had them for about 5 weeks and the supplier told me that they were 18 weeks old when I bought them. Last friday I had one small egg and a double yolker on Sunday, but nothing since then - now Thursday.
Is this normal? or am I just expecting too much too soon.
Thankyou.
Geoff Davis. :)

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carolbriar

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Re: At what age should hens begin to lay?
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2010, 17:23 »
Wow, a double yoker - that's great.  I got my hens in November and they only started laying towards the end of February at the age of approx 30 weeks.  They don't lay every day but most days.  I have heard others mention that they sometimes lay the odd one or two and then take a bit of time before they settle into laying regularly.  What breed are they?  I'm sure you'll find they will start to lay regularly soon and also if one starts then the others follow suite fairly soon afterwards.
2 Springer Spaniels, 1 Speckled Sussex,  1 Cuckoo Maran, 1 Light Sussex, 1 Welsummer, 2 Barnvelders and 2 silver Pencil Wyandotes.

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hendreary

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Re: At what age should hens begin to lay?
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2010, 17:28 »
They are Amber Star. They seem to be eating well and drinking plenty. I just thought that once they started laying they just carried on. But I suppose in an ideal world!

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joyfull

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Re: At what age should hens begin to lay?
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2010, 18:14 »
first of all check that they aren't laying elsewhere (one of mine was laying underneath a tarpaulin on the back of a lorry (she had a lovely big pile of eggs when we discovered them), but otherwise don't worry they will settle down and amber stars are very good layers (don't wish for too many double yolkers though as they aren't good for the hen  :()
Staffies are softer than you think.

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GrannieAnnie

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Re: At what age should hens begin to lay?
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2010, 19:55 »
A lot of Amberlinks (same thing as Amber Star) start laying at around 24-26 weeks.  We've raised a lot in the past 2.5 years and none of them started until they were about 22 weeks at the earliest.


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