The Easter Egger hens have become a popular backyard chicken across America despite not being true purebreds. They may lay a wide range of egg colors, and their plumage can also be different hues, which is why they are known as Easter Eggers chickens.
Americans believe that Easter Egger chickens inherit the blue egg-laying trait from their parent strain (the Araucana or Ameraucana).
Despite being predominantly considered an egg layer, they form a good dual-purpose breed. Also, most easter eggers don’t grow as large as Rhode Island Red, so your easter egger ladies take up less space.
The question often asked is, at what age do easter eggers start laying?
Typically, your Easter egger chickens tend to start laying eggs at 20 and 24 weeks, which is typical for backyard chickens like Golden Comets, so you don’t have to wait too long for colorful eggs.
In our guide, you can learn more about the easter egger laying age and how many eggs do easter eggers lay compared to other chickens.
By the end, you’ll know when they begin laying and how many eggs you can expect from your Easter egg layers throughout the year. (Read Why Do Ducks Wag Their Tails)
What Is an Easter Egger?
A common misunderstanding is what is called Easter eggers. Easter eggers are hybrid chickens that can be developed from a number of breeds; however, they must have the trait for beautiful eggs of colorful colors.
You’ll frequently see pale blue-egg-laying breeds like Araucanas or Ameraucanas being offered if you search online for Easter eggers.
These are merely breeds that lay blue eggs; they are not true Easter eggers. Easter eggers are hybrids and come in an infinite number. They can theoretically lay an endless number of colored eggs.
In other words, it’s impossible to predict if a certain Easter Egger will have black skin or feathers around its neck. Similar to an Araucana, or will have no tail feathers at all, similar to an Araucana (it may have no traits at all from either parent).
How Many Eggs Do Easter Eggers Lay?
While Easter Eggers can’t lay eggs quickly and consistently every day, they can still provide enough rent-paying eggs laid and in stunning colors once they have laid their first pullet egg and they reach the regular size.
Easter Eggers can lay up to 250 fresh eggs annually. This number varies depending on the specific chicken, breed, and living conditions.
How many eggs a chicken will lay or how frequently she will lay an egg is impossible to predict. Once they have started laying eggs, more eggs are laid by happy, healthy chickens than unhappy, underfed chickens. (Read Can Chickens Eat Wild Bird Seed)
Here are some average egg production estimations for comparison’s sake:
- Rhode Island Reds: 200–250 eggs per year – brown
- Australorps: 200–280 eggs per year – brown
- Silkies: 120–150 eggs per year – white/cream/blue/or green eggs
What Color Eggs Do Easter Eggers Lay?
Easter eggers became popular because of blue, green, pink, and brown colored eggs.
Easter Eggers aren’t chicken breeds and are chicken offspring of Araucana or Ameraucana chickens, among others.
An Easter Egger chicken doesn’t just lay one colored egg; the different colored eggs change throughout their lifetime
While often bred from the Ameraucana and Araucana chicken that lay blue eggs, others are bred with other chickens containing the red earlobe gene, and thus, you can have other egg colors.
When Do Easter Eggers Start Laying?
One of the most thrilling times in any chicken owner’s journey is the buildup of a chicken’s first egg. It’s especially exciting when you’re anticipating your first blue or green egg!
The good news is that most chickens mature quickly, so you won’t have to wait much longer than necessary.
Easter Eggers typically start laying eggs at 20 to 25 weeks, though this can vary from chicken to chicken.
Make sure they are for your Easter Eggers to start laying:
Of course, only hens will lay eggs, so check to ensure you don’t have an Easter Egger rooster if it seems you’ve been waiting forever for your first egg.
Easter Eggers are a broad category of birds that lay blue color eggs and green eggs without belonging to any particular breed.
Your Easter Egger should begin laying between five and seven months if hatching eggs or buying them at the shop. (Read Can Chickens Eat Banana Peels)
It’s crucial to start in mind, though, that several factors might influence the precise timing of your chicken’s egg production.
- Variations mean you have a mixed bag of different breeds. Keep in mind that Easter Eggers are a diverse group of breeds. Several hens, like Olive Eggers, may take longer for hatching eggs than others.
- Conditions and diet. Your chickens will likely mature sooner if your backyard breed is adequately fed and living in a healthy environment than if they are not.
- The chicken’s age at the time of purchase of your backyard breed in the spring or early summer. It will normally take about 6 months for Easter Egger chicks that you purchase at just one day old to start laying colored eggs.
When Do Easter Eggers Stop Laying Eggs?
Chickens usually keep laying eggs as they age. Over time, their egg output decreases until they cease laying eggs. This cycle differs from chicken to chicken and breed to breed.
Easter Egger chickens regularly lay until roughly four to five years old, unlike other high-production breeds that slow their laying after a few years.
However, if you feed chickens nutrition and calcium, keep them fit, and keep them stress-free, you can prolong their egg production.
Do Easter Eggers Stop Laying In Winter?
Easter Eggers are cold-hardy, although winter slows egg production. To combat this poor egg production, give your chickens more protein and fat and make sure your coop is cold-proof.
Feed chickens additional scrambled eggs or pork fat in winter to give them protein and energy to stay warm!
Your Easter Eggers may take a few weeks and stop laying eggs in winter, but this helps them lay more reliably during the colder months.
Want Healthy Chickens?
You can spot a number of indicators and elements to predict when you might receive your first colored eggs. To give your hens the nourishment and care they require to sustain egg laying, it is imperative to be ready for your first colored egg.
Various breeds of chicken lay eggs at multiple ages. If you know the breed of your chicken, you can use age to predict when she will lay her first egg.
As previously mentioned, Rhode Island Reds and other eggs might start egg-laying at around 16 to 18 weeks. For instance, silkies take a year to grow.
You can determine your chickens’ egg-laying age if you are familiar with breed norms.
Age
Different chicken breeds lay eggs at different ages. However, age can indicate when your chicken will lay her first eggs if you know her breed.
As indicated, Rhode Island Reds, Sex links, Amberlinks, and Australorps may start laying eggs early. Other breeds like Silkies, for example, take a year to develop.
Easter Eggers are also middle-range breeds, and 20–25-week-old Easter Eggers chickens lay eggs.
Orpingtons, Sussex, and Wyandottes are other breeds in the 6-month range that can sometimes reach 8 months, like Silkies. If you know the specific breed of your chickens, you can estimate their egg-laying age and possibly egg color.
Comb/Wattles
A young chicken’s comb and wattles get bigger as it gets older. This could hint that the chicken is a young rooster if it occurs exceptionally early.
On the other hand, young female chickens take longer to develop their combs and wattles.
Her face, wattles, and combs will turn from pale pink to a brighter red as her hormones change as chickens start laying eggs. They will also enlarge and bulge.
Squatting
Near-laying hens “squat.” The hen squats, spreading her wings. Putting your hand over her often makes her do so. Hens do this to mating position for roosters. They won’t start squatting until they’re close to maturity (egg-laying age).
Change in Behavior
You may also observe behavior changes as your hen matures and gets near to laying her first egg. She may become noisier, interested in your roosters, or territorial with other hens.
Since egg production requires more energy, she may start more. Daily or weekly health checkups can reveal these indications.
Checking Nesting Boxes
When it’s egg time, hens naturally migrate to nesting boxes. Make nesting boxes safe and secure. You can also add a couple of fake eggs to get them to sit.
They will start laying eggs in their nesting boxes due to the fake eggs. They are predisposed to lay where they believe other eggs are since it is deemed safe.
Your chickens’ nesting box should be spotless, placed in a shaded area of the coop, and raised slightly off the ground. Additionally, make sure they contain shavings or straw. Your chickens will like the snug feeling and prevent eggs from cracking after they are laid. (Read Can Chickens Eat Onions)
Increased Hunger
A young hen’s body will undergo internal and external changes as she prepares to start laying eggs. Creating and laying eggs requires a lot of energy!
As a result, you could notice that your Barred rock chickens start eating more often as they mature. Younger pullets or chicks have different nutritional requirements than do laying chickens.
Younger birds consume “starter” and “grower” diets that are higher in protein to assist their rapid growth.
For appropriate eggshell production, layer feeds have a little bit more calcium and a little bit less protein.
So, when your chickens are 18 weeks old or the first egg hatches, whichever comes first, gradually switch them to a layer meal.
Additionally, set out a supply of free-choice calcium (such as crushed oyster shells or eggshells) as soon as one hen starts laying eggs or as soon as you begin to observe the other telltale indicators that eggs will soon be arriving.
