chickens not laying eggs yet

I have 5 mixed breed chickens ( hens not roosters) which are about 6 months old. As far as I can tell I maybe getting one egg once or twice a week from these 5 birds. They get fed lay crumble, oyster shell and black oil sunflower seeds. Has anyone heard of new chickens taking this long to lay eggs and if so any solution? I am about 99% positive they are not laying eggs and hiding them on me.

Thanks

Some of the larger breeds do take alot of time--up to 25 weeks.

cluck house said:

I have 5 mixed breed chickens ( hens not roosters) which are about 6 months old. As far as I can tell I maybe getting one egg once or twice a week from these 5 birds. They get fed lay crumble, oyster shell and black oil sunflower seeds. Has anyone heard of new chickens taking this long to lay eggs and if so any solution? I am about 99% positive they are not laying eggs and hiding them on me.

Thanks

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Well, as the old saying goes "timing is everything" ... your girls, under different circumstances, would most likely be laying by now, but yours are coming into lay very very late in the season. The days are shorter now, and colder, they might go into molt, etc. Not a good combination. Just have patience and the eggs will come eventually!

iwiw60 said:

Well, as the old saying goes "timing is everything" ... your girls, under different circumstances, would most likely be laying by now, but yours are coming into lay very very late in the season. The days are shorter now, and colder, they might go into molt, etc. Not a good combination. Just have patience and the eggs will come eventually!

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The three EE's I bought a month ago and their three Sisters two weeks ago should make my Six EE's 27 -28 weeks (if the store owner received the correct hatch dates from the person/s they bought the EE's from.) No eggs, no crow, but feather's! It doesn't look like they are loosing feather's in a "real molt", but there are feather's in the coop and the girls are looking kind of "less full"? No actual skin showing.


I guess this is what you mean by the timing. Not only that, but the stress of a new environment for all six would add to the feather loss.
If one of them doesn't lay by the end of this month, I'm considering artificial lighting. Except for the freak cold snap we just had, our winter's are really mild. This is all depends on if they don't molt further. If they go into a full molt, I won't add lights. We'll see. Sigh...

10whiskers said:

The three EE's I bought a month ago and their three Sisters two weeks ago should make my Six EE's 27 -28 weeks (if the store owner received the correct hatch dates from the person/s they bought the EE's from.) No eggs, no crow, but feather's! It doesn't look like they are loosing feather's in a "real molt", but there are feather's in the coop and the girls are looking kind of "less full"? No actual skin showing.


I guess this is what you mean by the timing. Not only that, but the stress of a new environment for all six would add to the feather loss.
If one of them doesn't lay by the end of this month, I'm considering artificial lighting. Except for the freak cold snap we just had, our winter's are really mild. This is all depends on if they don't molt further. If they go into a full molt, I won't add lights. We'll see. Sigh...

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Oh, for SURE your girls are in molt from the picture! This will definitely throw them off lay for a time. Add to that their new environment, etc., if it were me? I'd give 'em a rest...they deserve it!

iwiw60 said:

Oh, for SURE your girls are in molt from the picture! This will definitely throw them off lay for a time. Add to that their new environment, etc., if it were me? I'd give 'em a rest...they deserve it!

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Really? Would that make them older than 27-28 weeks then? I thought females didn't do their first full molt until a year.

I hope it's not mites or something. It's a new 8x10" coop (no run yet) and no other birds. I guess they could have had mites in the store. The girls never have let me actually touch them much. I don't know how I would be able to dust them? for parasites. I'm a complete newbie.

10whiskers said:

Really? Would that make them older than 27-28 weeks then? I thought females didn't do their first full molt until a year.

I hope it's not mites or something. It's a new 8x10" coop (no run yet) and no other birds. I guess they could have had mites in the store. The girls never have let me actually touch them much. I don't know how I would be able to dust them? for parasites. I'm a complete newbie.

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I really think they are molting right now. As a general rule hens will do a full-blown molt around a year old, but some, like my 4 Black Australorps, went through a "juvenile molt" in late June and they were born April 1st...yikes! I had feathers everywhere...in the coop, in the run...If you end up agreeing that they are in molt you should give them extra protein to help with re-growing of their feathers. I gave my 4 girls 2 hard boiled eggs, crumbled up really good twice a week...boy, do they go CRAZY for it!

iwiw60 said:

I really think they are molting right now. As a general rule hens will do a full-blown molt around a year old, but some, like my 4 Black Australorps, went through a "juvenile molt" in late June and they were born April 1st...yikes! I had feathers everywhere...in the coop, in the run...If you end up agreeing that they are in molt you should give them extra protein to help with re-growing of their feathers. I gave my 4 girls 2 hard boiled eggs, crumbled up really good twice a week...boy, do they go CRAZY for it!

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I'll try the hard boiled eggs. I haven't given them anything but laying feed ('cause I thought at 24 weeks, they'd be laying) no snacks, but I'm sure the eggs won't hurt them. Tomorrow, I'm calling the store I got them from to try and get a more accurate age of these girls. I tried today, but they were closed. I'm probably being a Mother Hen and worrying too much, but even though all six EE's are acting normally, I don't want my being a newbie miss signs, that could be something I should act upon. Thanks, so much, for your advice.

10whiskers said:

I'll try the hard boiled eggs. I haven't given them anything but laying feed ('cause I thought at 24 weeks, they'd be laying) no snacks, but I'm sure the eggs won't hurt them. Tomorrow, I'm calling the store I got them from to try and get a more accurate age of these girls. I tried today, but they were closed. I'm probably being a Mother Hen and worrying too much, but even though all six EE's are acting normally, I don't want my being a newbie miss signs, that could be something I should act upon. Thanks, so much, for your advice.

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Have their combs turned bright red? Are they doing the "submissive squat" for you?

iwiw60 said:

Have their combs turned bright red? Are they doing the "submissive squat" for you?

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Well, one of them (Ginger) would lay down when I put my hand on her back, but she stopped doing that about two weeks ago. And Joonie, who once had a single row of small peas, has developed two other very tiny peas on either side of the main row. She and another girl from the second purchase has turned red. But Liza's (The bird in the picture in the above post.) comb has actually lightened in the last two weeks. (About the same time I noticed her feather's getting less fluffy. Also about two weeks ago.)

These next three pictures are from two weeks ago and does not represent their current comb or face color. And Joonie's picture doesn't show the new pea comb development and her comb is darker, now.




Oh! I was searching for a thread to post this next question, but maybe you may know... In the last week, Joonie has been at the top of the pecking order and most importantly, in the last couple of days, she has run up to me in a challenging way and pecked me. I let it go until yesterday, but when she did it again, I chased her down (inside the coop) and picked her up. My thinking was, she hates to be pet, so I was going to do the thing she hated most to let her know that's what would happen to her if she pecked me.

Is that normal for a female? You don't think she could be a cockerel, do you? To me, she looks like a female. We made up later and she didn't charge or try to peck me.