Do you have young spring chickens at home? If so, I bet yous're eagerly waiting for those fresh eggs to arrive…. and I don't arraign you! Home-raised backyard chicken eggs can't exist beat. If yous're wondering when your chickens will commencement laying eggs, read forth to learn the signs that bespeak eggs are on the fashion. We'll talk about the average age that chickens start to lay eggs, how breed plays a office, and a few tell-tale signs that eggs are on the way.

Proceed in mind that every craven is different, and in that location is nothing you tin can do to rush them to abound upward – and then simply be patient and enjoy the teenage years while they concluding. Be certain to check out the video of Phoebe laying an egg at the end of this mail service!


What historic period practise chickens usually kickoff laying eggs?


On average, young female person chickens start laying eggs or "come up into lay" effectually half-dozen months of age. Some chickens may start laying eggs as early equally xvi to 18 weeks old, while others may take upwards of 28 to 32 weeks (closer to 8 months old)! Over the years, we accept had some extra-early overachievers along with our fair share of late bloomers, just found that around 20 to 22 weeks was the most common age for our chickens to outset laying eggs.

Four young pullet Hens are roosting on a wooden saw horse perch. Each one is different in color, one is black and copper, one is bright orange to tan, another is black and white, and the last one is light brown with some black. There combs and battles are nearly non existent at their young age.
Some of our girls when they were sweet 16 (weeks) – and still looking too immature to beginning laying eggs quite yet!


Chicken breeds and egg-laying


In addition to age, the item breed of your chickens will also influence when eggs first to arrive. Certain breeds of chickens are known to start laying eggs earlier than others, and each breed has their own boilerplate age range for egg development.

Chickens that take historically been bred for the purpose of egg production frequently get-go laying eggs sooner (equally early equally 17 or 18 weeks sometime), including Leghorns, Gilded Comets, Sex Links, Rhode Island Reds, and Australorps. On the other manus, heavier breeds like Wyandottes, Orpingtons, and Barred Rocks are known to have a bit longer. Our Easter Egger ladies are always last to add their colorful eggs to the basket, which is a known trait for their breed.

Come across our "Top eighteen Backyard Chicken Breeds" article to learn more about different breeds, including heat and cold-hardiness, general demeanor, egg color and laying frequency.


Time of yr and egg-laying


The majority of young chickens volition start laying eggs the get-go year that y'all have them. Yet if yous happen to get your chicks later on in the year (summer or autumn) and they come up into maturity during darker, colder days of fall or wintertime, they may wait until the following spring to offset laying eggs! Reduced daylight hours in the wintertime usually signals mature hens to take a natural pause from laying eggs, conserving their energy and nutrients to caryatid for the cold winter ahead. During a winter cessation of laying, y'all'll also discover the chicken'due south combs and wattles become smaller and pale over again, swinging with their hormones. However, it isn't uncommon for young chickens to continue laying eggs right through their first wintertime! Then, they'll probably take a break the following winter after that.

Curious to learn more about caring for chickens in common cold weather, including tips for winterizing their coop? Bank check out this article all almost wintertime chicken care. Please annotation that we don't suggest lighting the coop to "force" chickens to continue to lay eggs through winter. Their bodies know all-time, and need a natural break.


5 SIGNS A Craven WILL First LAYING EGGS Shortly


1) Enlarged Reddening Combs and Wattles


As a young chicken matures, their combs and/or wattles become increasingly large. If this happens very early on (under 8 weeks old) it could exist a sign that the chicken is a young rooster! On the other hand, young female chickens develop their combs and wattles more slowly. As her hormones shift and she gets prepare to start laying eggs, her combs, wattles, and face up volition alter from lite pinkish to brighter crimson in color. They will too swell and become larger.

A two part image collage of a Barred Rock hen. The first image shows the hen before she is mature enough to lay eggs. Her comb and wattle are pale in color and small in size. She is standing on a chair with a chicken coop in the background. The second image shows the same hen a few weeks later after she started laying eggs. Her comb and wattle have grown larger and they are deep red in color. She is standing on a perch underneath a lemon tree.
On the left: Zoey, our current barred rock at exactly 6 months old. She hadn't started to lay yet, just was getting close. On the correct: Zoey, about 3 weeks afterward, right after she laid her outset egg. Wait how much more bright red and enlarged her comb and wattles got in less than a month!


2) Start Exploring the Nesting Box Area


In the weeks leading up to the first egg, a immature hen will usually first to show more interest in the nesting box expanse than ever earlier. She may even begin to test it out and sit down inside, even if she isn't quite ready to lay nevertheless. One great way to encourage young chickens to lay eggs in their designated nesting boxes (every bit opposed to on the coop floor, or hiding them in the yard!) is to identify false eggs inside the nest box. Chickens tend to like laying eggs in a clutch, where other eggs are. Y'all could use specialty faux wood eggs, or what we've done in the past, golf balls!

The inside of a chicken coop nest box is shown from above. There are two boxes separated by a piece of plywood in the middle, each box has a nest pad and hay material for nesting. In one box there is three eggs, one green, one blue, and one brown. In the other box there is a black and tan Easter Egger chicken that has yet to lay an egg but is inspecting the nest boxes in anticipation of the day it will first lay.
Hennifer, an Easter Egger, was the concluding girl to start laying of the others her aforementioned age. Here she is starting to explore the nesting boxes and have interest in the other eggs. She laid her first egg a few days later!


3) She May Become Louder


Have you heard a chicken "egg vocal" yet? I discover it funny that crowing roosters are banned in many urban areas, because hens can exist damn vocal also! (Though I've read in that location is something more jarring and irritating nigh the tone of a rooster crow than hen songs to most people). Our chickens sing and squawk for hours before and after they lay an egg. And so, before your young chickens kickoff laying eggs, they may become increasingly talkative too.


4) Increased Ambition


Every bit a young hen gears up to kickoff laying eggs, her torso will go through numerous changes – within and out. The process of forming and laying eggs takes a lot of energy! So, you may detect your maturing chickens begin to swallow more than usual. Laying hens accept different nutritional needs than younger pullets or chicks. Younger birds swallow "starter" and "grower" feeds that contain college levels of protein to support their rapid growth. Layer feeds accept slightly less protein, and a trivial actress calcium for proper eggshell germination. Therefore, gradually transition your chickens to a layer feed when they reach 18 weeks of age – or when the starting time egg arrives, whichever occurs first.

I also advise putting out a source of complimentary-choice calcium (such equally crushed oyster shells or eggshells) either equally soon every bit one hen starts laying eggs, or when yous begin to notice the other tell-tale signs that eggs are coming soon. Bank check out this article to larn more than most providing essential calcium for laying hens.

We beloved having this reliable autodoor on our chicken coop, which lets the girls in and out of their protected run each morning and dark.


v) The Submissive Squat


Of all the signs that a chicken will get-go laying eggs before long, squatting behavior is the most telling in my stance! As y'all walk by your young hen or accomplish out a hand to pet her, she may finish, squat, and put her wings out slightly to her sides. Nosotros lovingly telephone call this "the submissive squat".

Give the girl a skillful pet on the back, but keep in mind the biological reason for her squatting beliefs isn't about cuddling with humans! She is signaling that she is set and willing to be mounted by a rooster to fertilize her forthcoming eggs. If there is no rooster around, she'll submit to her human being instead. Now, not every chicken will undoubtedly squat, but all of the girls in our flock did  – and started laying eggs within a calendar week or two thereafter!

An orange and black Easter Egger chicken is squatting and being pet along her back by an outstretched arm. The submissive squat is a sure fire sign that the chicken will start laying eggs soon.
Peach, one of our old Easter Egger girls (no longer with us) – showing us her best submissive squat.
A hand is holding a dark brown egg in front of a Black Copper Marans chicken who just started laying eggs. Her comb and wattle is dark red, she has copper specks mixed into her black feathers along her neck.
Luna (Black Copper Marans) says… that came out of where?


The moment you've been waiting for: the starting time eggs have arrived!


When chickens start laying eggs, their starting time eggs will be significantly smaller than what they'll regularly lay as fully mature hens. Earlier you know it, yous'll accept baskets full of beautiful big fresh eggs – right from your backyard.

In all, I hope this article helped to clue y'all in on the signs to scout for as your chickens go set to lay. Be sure to give thanks your ladies for their hard work! Next, check out this commodity about best practices for storing and washing fresh backyard chicken eggs. Please feel free to ask whatsoever questions, or spread the love by sharing or pinning this commodity!


Only for fun, hither is a video of our daughter Phoebe laying an egg:


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