Hens generally start laying eggs at around the age of 18 to 20 weeks. Hens do not need to mate to produce eggs; in fact most eggs laid by hens are unfertilised. It is therefore possible to keep hens for their eggs without having a rooster present. Chickens are domesticated fowl and have been selectively bred so as to produce eggs as frequently as possible; most hens will lay an egg a day at the most productive time of their lives, which is usually the first 6 months of their life, though this depends on the exact breed of hen. www.vtaide.com/png/chicken.htm gives a simplistic guide to the life cycle of a hen. As a hen gets older, the rate at which it produces eggs decreases, and after the first year it is usually more economically viable to kill the hens than keep them, however many people choose to keep chickens as pets.
Pullet is the term for a young hen from the time she starts to lay eggs to her first seasonal moult. Hens generally start laying eggs at about 18 to 20 weeks of age. Egg production will slow down or stop (depending on the breed of hen) after the first moult which starts as winter approaches. Some breeds will lay eggs for up to ten years but no hen lays as many eggs per year as she does in that first super-productive season. In fact most hens start to eat more than the eggs they lay are worth by their third or fourth year. Kind hearted hobby hen keepers will ignore this disastrous state of affairs but the serious smallholder will not have that luxury. Butchering hens is part and parcel of hen keeping. Hens past their laying prime are the traditional ingredient of peasant style chicken soups.
Well most start laying at 18 _ 20 weeks of age.Some start later mfrom 20_28 weeks of age so don't pnic if they don't start exactly at 18 weeks of age it may take some time.
Hens will also continue to lay longer if their eggs are collected daily, if eggs are left in a nest the hens may get 'broody' stop laying and try to hatch. I'm from north central Texas, and My Orpington hens layed all year round.
It depends on the breed. If they are white egg layers they could start at 16-21 weeks. Brown egg layers start at around 22-24. There are several factors that can cause them to start late. Egyptian Fayoumis and WHITE leghorns usually start the earliest. Breeds that are less well known for egg production, and more for meat start later. I have two chickens that started to lay today. They are 23 weeks and 4 days old. The one is an Australorp, and the other is a black Jersey giant. I am so happy. I cannot believe they started on the same day.
I have 8 Dominiques and 6 Red Stars. I got my first egg at about 16 weeks. They are 20 weeks now and I just started getting eggs regularly. Put golf balls where you want them to lay. It really helps.
I have a small light in my hen house that runs on a timer, chickens need about 14 hrs. Of light to lay normally. Fall and winter have less daylight so I set my light to come on at 5:00am and go off at 7:00pm, just a energy saver bulb, it works!
Chickens will lay 18-20 weeks if everything is perfect, but they will start and stop depending on loads of different things, health, weather, age, alsorts of other reasons to, best thing to do if your hens are not laying or poor layers is to ask someone nearby who has chickens if they egg numbers are down, because if they are then you maybe doing everything right, but the weather might be effecting them, best thing is clean water, clean beds, layer pellets, stay off the treats for a while, enrichment within pens or free range
Chickens are between 18 and 28 weeks when they start to lay eggs. Though it depends on how good their diet is and their health is. My chickens are 14 weeks and I hope they will start laying soon!
Chickens start to lay eggs around 4-6 months. I have Rhode island reds and they started too lay eggs after 4 months! It depends on what type of breed usually. 8 months is too long for many different breeds!
I have 2 Barred Plymouth Rock and 5 Americanas the 2 Ply. Rocks lay up to 1-2 eggs a day. I've researched they give up to 200 eggs a year! MUST add oyster shells to pellets to keep shells hard. Got the Americanas as babies still waiting only 3 months old so we'll see.....
My Leghorns are 15 weeks, and I got my first egg today. Wow, was I surprised. I have 40 leghorns, so I am not sure who layed the egg, but it will be fun to see how many there are tomorrow.
I have a white Leghorn, Jane, who is now 7 and 1/2 months old and has not layed egg one...she sits on the nest, looks like she is trying, but nothing...the other two rhode island reds, Beverly & Sue, lay every day. When will Jane start laying eggs...is there something wrong with her?
Hello! I am From Tanzania East Africa. I have started a small farm were I started with 800 chicks they are now 19 weeks old. I spend around USD.645 per month on food for them is this right? Here they sell a tray of 30eggs for USD 3.548 will I benefit from it? Please help!
Incubation time of chickens before they lay eggs is porbably different from the kinds they are. I supoze when eggs are being sat on, that they might nought even hatch. Espeshully if the hen is a young one and never had chicks before. Most of the guys here are probably professors of cultured chick raising in human made incuvators, and neve even seen a coop.
Thanks for all the answers I have chickens and they are a bit older then 2 months. A while to go but I hope they start to lay eggs in the next 2-3 months
