# Laying early?



## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

My two columbian rock cross hens have suddenly gotten very red combs and wattles and are ducking down when I go to touch them. They are only 14 weeks old though. I know they are bred to be proficient layers... But does that include early layers? Should we open up the nesting boxes soon? Or do some birds show these signs weeks early without laying yet?


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## Apyl (Jun 20, 2012)

Sounds like they will be laying within the next couple weeks. I think it took my girls a couple weeks once they started squatting.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

Ok thanks, I was worried they would start at 15 weeks or so!


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## southie (Jul 17, 2013)

I have 8 ri red / jersey giant breed(bout 16 weeks) . Tonight while putting them to bed one of my hens was missing it was bout 9pm and dark looked all around yard for her but found nothing. When's back into pen and spotted her up in rafters??? She was panting and would not let me pet her ?can anyone tell me why she did this?? Is she getting ready to lay ??? New to chickens please reply


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Could be she was hot up in those rafters....I don't like anyone touching me when I'm hot either.


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## southie (Jul 17, 2013)

Bee said:


> Could be she was hot up in those rafters....I don't like anyone touching me when I'm hot either.


I don't know how she got up there plus I have fan going???


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## southie (Jul 17, 2013)

Plus none of my other hens were painting? And they let me pet them not her she hid under one of the roosters wing??? What's going on???


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Sometimes chickens do weird things. If you've examined her and find nothing physically wrong with her such as obvious wounds or injuries, you may never know why she is acting so strangely.

I had a hen once who would start walking backward rapidly with her head down to the ground. She did that for a couple of days...then stopped. Never did know what that was all about....never saw it before in a chicken and never saw it since.


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## Itsacutefuzzball (Mar 16, 2013)

So does an extremely red comb mean EGGS?


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## southie (Jul 17, 2013)

Thanks b hopefully she just had a nutty moment


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Itsacutefuzzball said:


> So does an extremely red comb mean EGGS?


Sometimes...and sometimes it just means "hot!". The comb and wattles is a place to release heat and humidity in a chicken. Blood will flush there as a way to release core heat...much like the reason our face gets red when we are exercising or out in the heat and humidity.

This is why people who keep their coop too closed up or keep them too warm in the winter can still have birds that suffer from frostbite...that comb will have both condensation from their own breath on it and some of the moisture of their own body heat, so coops that are too warm and poorly ventilated can actually increase the chances of that bird's comb getting frozen when it hits the outdoors in the winter or as temps fluctuate during the night. That moisture freezes much faster than a drier comb would do.


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## Itsacutefuzzball (Mar 16, 2013)

Bee said:


> Sometimes...and sometimes it just means "hot!". The comb and wattles is a place to release heat and humidity in a chicken. Blood will flush there as a way to release core heat...much like the reason our face gets red when we are exercising or out in the heat and humidity.
> 
> This is why people who keep their coop too closed up or keep them too warm in the winter can still have birds that suffer from frostbite...that comb will have both condensation from their own breath on it and some of the moisture of their own body heat, so coops that are too warm and poorly ventilated can actually increase the chances of that bird's comb getting frozen when it hits the outdoors in the winter or as temps fluctuate during the night. That moisture freezes much faster than a drier comb would do.


Ah, okay. It's REALLY hot here, so that explains why their combs are red. And I have a extremely well ventilated coop. I might post pics later.


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## michelle621 (Aug 14, 2012)

We got our first two pullet eggs at 20 weeks this year.


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

GenFoe said:


> My two columbian rock cross hens have suddenly gotten very red combs and wattles and are ducking down when I go to touch them. They are only 14 weeks old though. I know they are bred to be proficient layers... But does that include early layers? Should we open up the nesting boxes soon? Or do some birds show these signs weeks early without laying yet?


that sure is young, what have you been feeding them?


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

They are on a starter/grower feed. They are the only two that are doing that. I have two barred rock, two production reds, and a dark brahma hen who all still have light pink combs and wattles.


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

GenFoe said:


> They are on a starter/grower feed. They are the only two that are doing that. I have two barred rock, two production reds, and a dark brahma hen who all still have light pink combs and wattles.


well i think i know why they are thinking about laying so young.
i switch mine to grower pellets at 8 weeks old & i don't switch to laying pellets till they are 18 weeks old. the grower feed keeps their body from growing too fast & gives their bones time to get big & strong. however they take longer to start laying doing it my way but overall it gives me a stronger bird for the long term.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

They aren't on layer feed. In my area starter and grower is one feed. It's hard to find it as a separate feed. Tractor supply carries 4 different brands of the combo but no individual grower feed. Our local feed store only sells one brand. I won't switch to later feed until 18-20 weeks.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

I often start chicks on layer and it doesn't make them lay early...the feed has nothing to do with how early or late they lay. That is individual to the bird and their respective hormone levels...if feed is changing the hormone levels, then that is certainly something to be looked into. But...normal, regular layer mash does not contain anything that affects hormone production.


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## BikerChick (Jul 13, 2012)

Bee, I am saying this in case you don't know (we all choose what is best for our flock). The calcium in layer feed does damage to the chick's kidneys. Roosters too, but they are able to deal with it better, so it seems most of us let it go in that case.
Genfoe, my Columbian Rock Cross began laying at exactly 16 weeks. The BR and Production Reds were all closer to 17 and 18 weeks.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Yep...I've read that. But have never seen any evidence of that claim, so I'll just keep on feeding the same. That is something that folks just keep repeating because of a study done on commercial layers and there lives are nothing like a backyard flock's.

I've yet to hear of anyone's backyard flock having renal difficulties from feeding layer percentages of calcium to chicks. I use my backyard as my lab and I use the results found there as real life factual information...I don't rely much on studies done in controlled settings that do not apply to my flock. 

I've had many flocks over many years, so my results have been consistently the same..whereas a scientific study usually last for one group of birds over a short period of time. Commercial layers are confined to a cage and get no exercise at all, so calcium does not get utilized in the bone like it does with a backyard flock, thus it stays in the blood stream until the kidneys filter it out...and therein lies the problem for the birds in those studies~but the same can not be said for birds that utilize calcium in bone due to repeated and daily exercise. 

Once you understand how calcium is used in the body, you can start to understand the missing factor in these studies and why these study results only apply to commercially raised layers. 

Now...having said that..if anyone is raising chicks that they plan to confine in small spaces while they grow out to maturity and then are confined to even smaller spaces,at 4-8 birds in a very small cage in which they cannot move around for the duration of their lives, then I would not advise early use of layer percentages of calcium to the feed either.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

At just under 18 weeks old she dropped an egg right on the droppings board! We've opened up the nesting boxes and put hay in them with some golf balls. Hopefully we will be eating our own eggs by this weekend!!


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## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

I think you should start opening the nesting boxes! Also, I read in a hobby farms mag that when the comb etc turn red, They are getting ready to start. Also, if the combs turn lighter from red, they are "going off lay", as in moulting, etc. My girls did turn red just before starting to lay.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

GenFoe said:


> At just under 18 weeks old she dropped an egg right on the droppings board! We've opened up the nesting boxes and put hay in them with some golf balls. Hopefully we will be eating our own eggs by this weekend!!


YAY!!!! Eat them slowly.....and with much enjoyment!


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## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

I've got to learn to read all pages of comments before adding one...mine was a little late and superfluous.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

kjohnstone said:


> I've got to learn to read all pages of comments before adding one...mine was a little late and superfluous.


 it's ok


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