Flex :: Flex - This.width Within A Class Always Returns The Same Value

Within my AS3 class I am calling this.width, and the value it returns is always 1, even though this is impossible given the contents of the object.

Is this a standard behavior for AS3?

Simple version of class is posted below. It is attached to a MovieClip symbol that just contains a simple hexagon.

package {

import flash.display.*;
import flash.utils.*;
import flash.events.*;

public class Hexagon extends MovieClip
{
var startWidth:Number;
var startHeight:Number;

public function Hexagon()
{
var myTimer:Timer = new Timer(2000);
myTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, timerFunction);
myTimer.start();

startWidth = this.width;
startHeight = this.height;

trace("startWidth:" + " " + startWidth);
trace("startHeight:" + " " + startHeight);
}

function timerFunction (evt:TimerEvent):void
{

}
}
}