New birds still not laying

[boomercide]

I have 12 new Easter eggers 2 of witch has started too lay but the rest of them are not laying they are 29 weeks old today I live in upstate ny any one know why they are not laying I figured they should be laying by now

 

[FlyWheel]

Not all chicken breeds continue laying through the winter. Easter Eggers, being of indeterminate heritage may or may not stop and take a break when days get short. It just depends on what genes they got. Of my three Easter Eggers that are of laying age only two are currently still active, the third is on hiatus.

Actually,this is the first time I have ever had chickens that continued laying after November. This is also the first time I had Easter Eggers.

 

[lazy gardener]

I had an EE in my first flock that produced 3 - 4 eggs/week through her first winter. She was the only one, and the only one since I joined BYC that laid in the winter w/o light.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Calling them EE’s tells me absolutely nothing about any traits they have other than they might lay colored eggs. They might not even do that. They are not a breed. There is no SOP that defines any traits of EE’s. If you got yours from a specific hatchery or a specific flock and can find someone else that also got EE’s from that same flock they can tell you what happened with their EE’s. That will give you an indication of the trends you might expect from your EE’s, but that is just indications. If you got yours at a different age, fed them differently, have them in a different part of the country, or there is something else that makes you unique, they may behave differently. They may behave differently anyway but at least with 12 you have enough so trends should mean something.

I made my EE’s by mixing Ameraucanas from a breeder with Speckled Sussex, Black Australorp, Delaware, and Orpington from different hatcheries. I added Buff Rock to the mix this year. These photos give you an idea of what my EE’s looked like before I added the Buff Rock.

Most winters most of my pullets that start laying in the fall keep laying pretty well throughout the winter. Not all but most. I do have production breeds in the mix so you’d expect them to lay fairly well. I don’t keep track of how many eggs per week a pullet lays but 4 per week sounds pretty good for an average. After they finish the molt my adult hens often, but not always, start laying again without waiting for the longer warmer days of spring. Some pullets and hens shut down until the longer warmer days of spring.

I often have some that start laying around 20 weeks but I’ve had some of my EE’s that did not start laying for nine months. The funny thing was that those that started at nine months started at this time of the year, the first part of December when the days were about as short as they are going to get and it was pretty cool. The time of year can have an effect but not to those hardheaded stubborn pullets. I did not supplement the light for them either. I’ve had others that started early December at five to six months of age.

Bottom line is that I cannot tell you when your others will start to lay or how well any of them will lay, winter or summer. I couldn’t do that if you had Barred Rock or RIR’s, let alone EE’s. Even pullets from the same flock are all over the place with that, at least mine are. They will lay when they decide to lay.

There are a couple of things you can do to improve your odds of some of them starting earlier than otherwise. Length of light is a big factor. If you supplement the light to make the days longer you may kick start some of them. Might not. I don’t know how you are feeding them but pullets fed an 18% to 20% protein diet tend to start laying earlier than a pullet fed 16% protein.

I understand the frustration, I’ve waited nine months before and that was only for some of them. Some from that hatch waited even longer, until the days got longer, to start. Heredity plays a part but some of their daughters, when I finally got some eggs I could hatch, started laying at 5 months. You just can’t predict it with any degree of accuracy.