Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => FARMING & COUNTRY LIFE => Topic started by: mtman1849 on September 06, 2009, 12:04:31 pm
-
I got me 12 pullets about 2 months ago and now they are almost chickens I hope to be getting eggs real soon
[img=http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4397/dscf3160.th.jpg] (http://img441.imageshack.us/i/dscf3160.jpg/)
[img=http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8609/dscf3159o.th.jpg] (http://img441.imageshack.us/i/dscf3159o.jpg/)
[img=http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2200/dscf3158.th.jpg] (http://img441.imageshack.us/i/dscf3158.jpg/)
-
Nice looking R.I. reds! It takes about 5 mo.s from hatching for them to start laying...looks like yours are close. You'll have brown eggs coming out of your ears before you know it!
Scott
-
Congrats on becoming a chicken farmer. :-D
Rhode Island Reds are a good breed to keep.
I have some myself, very reliable and even tempered. Not flighty and skittish like some.
I have one that can be a bossy little thing, they are like a bunch of old ladies.
If they were hatched two months ago then you should be getting eggs sometime in December or January but since you say you got them two months ago maybe they were alread a couple of months old.
Remember that the shorter days of winter also affects their laying, they need around 14 hours of daylight to keep laying well so sometimes a pullet will not start laying in the dead of winter and wait til spring.
Rhode Island reds are a hearty breed that winters well so you will probably be all set.
You will know when they are about to start laying by the color of their comb and if they start squawting for you when you pet them.
Their combs and wattles will get bright bright red when they are mature enough to lay and if you lean down to pet them and they crouch they will usually start laying in a week or two.
-
They were hatched around Easter this year
-
Then you should be getting eggs pretty soon, keep an eye on the color of their combs.