Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[jippy1]

Hi

In the process of buying my chickens ,

1 silly question how old are the chickens when they start laying eggs,

how long does it take to settle them in ,and is it best to have 3 or 4

Thanks

[Sam]

It depends, if they're hybrids I think its around 20 weeks. And I have 4 chickens, I love them!!

[Olly]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Around 20 weeks is usual, but bear in mind that 'point of lay' is not an exact term, so POL hens might be anything from 18-24 weeks old, and when they start laying depends on the breed and the time of year as well as the individual hen.

 

If you have room, I'd get four - it's no harder to look after three than four, and you'll get more eggs and more fun!

[percy049]

Hybrids start laying about 20-22 weeks, and pure breeds about 24 weeks

[LuckyChickenLover-]

Welcome to the forum, jippy1

 

They usually start laying at around 20 weeks.

 

And if I were you I'd get four . You'll probably end up with more than three anyway if you catch the dreaded morehens disease!

[chestnutmare]

I have three in with run and extension.., but I'm planning on getting more.

[Lorax]

Hello!

 

We have four hens, one for each of us. I'm sooo glad we got four (we were going to get just two!). We plan to get two more in the autumn (really want a white egg layer...). We have four hybrids and we got them so that they all laid different coloured eggs. I find this really useful to see who is laying.

 

We were told ours were about 19 weeks when we got them. Two laid within 24 hours. One took a few weeks to start laying, the last one a good few months.