how long does it take for eggs to come?

[angelat]

hi all

how long does it take for chickens to start laying, had mine since friday. they are getting more confident by the day, but are still getting used to traffic noises etc.

more interested in corn on cob and dried corn than their mash, that worries me, am not giving treats till the afternoon. they completely devour corn on cob! go mad for it also they are still getting used to their ramp. they both went up it last night and again today, although one struggles with it. have tried leaving main door open in case they want to enter that way. maybe i am worrying too much and am too impatient!!

had to put trellis fence up yesterday as carmen tries to escape even with wings clipped, what happened this morning. jumped onto trellis fence am going to put wooden clothes pegs all along, so she can't land!!!

any advice? thanx

[Noodle]

Hi,
Glad you have your hens!! How old are they? If you bought them as POL then it can take a month (or longer) to get eggs, as I'm finding out! I had one that was laying when I bought her, who has continued to lay and the other 2 wren't, and they still aren't, I've had them for 5 weeks!
They should eat their mash if they are hungry, so go easy on the treats. They will always go for the tasties first! Is it mash that they were on at their last home, cos if they were used to pellets they might not realise it;s for eating!!!
Don't wory too much, they are hardy animals and can pretty much look after themselves, it's hard not to though! I had a dream mine were eaten by foxes and was outside in the middle of the night making sure they were ok!

[MaureenHall]

They'll be ready to start laying from about 20 weeks, depending on the breed. A good indicator is their combs, they go quite red at maturity so if they're still liitle and pink it'll be a bit longer yet

[di]

Just wantedto add that as with Noodle we found ours all started laying at different times despite all being hatched the same day!Some were several weeks behind the others!Like Maureen says the combs are a good indication as to when they'll start,although that said one of our newer girls still has a tiny pink comb & she's deffo laying!!(guess there's always one!!)

[Ashbylife]

We bought ours as POL (though they were only 14 weeks) - they've just started to lay, at 26 weeks old, so you may be in for quite a long wait (it seemed like forever to us!). The combs thing is definately spot on - the one of ours who is laying has always been the one with the biggest comb and with all of them their combs have got much redder during the last weeks or so. If they are POL try to find out from the place you bought them from exactly how old they are as it can vary a lot.

[digthatchick]

As has been said already, the answer is in the comb - bright red and they are mature enough to lay (although one of mine laid on the second day the other five took a good four weeks to settle) I see you feed your chooks mash, have you tried layers pellets?, my chooks love them and they are far less wasteful. I use organic layers pellets from Welcome to The Organic Feed Company hope this helps.