Golden comets still not laying

[BroKen1]

I’ve got 23 golden comets. My wife and I bought them from Tractor Supply in March, and they were supposed to be 4-6 weeks old then. This is June, and I’ve still yet to see a single egg. Everything I’ve read said they should start laying at around 16 weeks. I’m feeding them cracked corn and layer pellets. Can anybody tell me if this is normal? I really expected to be getting eggs by now.

 

[sourland]

My gut is that they may have not be as old as indicated by TSC. I'd cut back on the cracked corn and - patience - they will lay in their own good time.

 

[Doc7]

Don’t stress about any particular chicken not laying until they are 10-11 months old. Put that in your mind and you’ll never worry about it again. Some will lay at 16 weeks, some won’t. All mine have come in by 23 weeks latest, so far. (3 generations).

 

[BroKen1]

My gut is that they may have not be as old as indicated by TSC. I'd cut back on the cracked corn and - patience - they will lay in their own good time.

Thank you very much. Patience has never been my strong suit, but I’m trying...LOL.

 

[BroKen1]

Don’t stress about any particular chicken not laying until they are 10-11 months old. Put that in your mind and you’ll never worry about it again. Some will lay at 16 weeks, some won’t. All mine have come in by 23 weeks latest, so far. (3 generations).

That’s good to know. Thank you!

 

[Doc7]

Also, why are you feeding layer to birds that are not laying? This is not good for them. Far better for their first eggs to miss some calcium than for their kidneys to suffer at a young age.


I use Purina flock raiser Mostly but I will purchase Any major brand that has the latest manufacture date when I go to the store (tractor supply).


The way I figure, more than half the year:
- you have chicks
- you have hens not laying due to daylight hours
- you have hens not laying due to molt (and this can be months and months of the year if you look at all the times any single hen is molting)
- You have a broody
- You might have a roo

I just see no reason to buy layer feed when any given day one of these factors could be impacting the flock and layer feed would negatively impact at least one bird. This is why I don’t even consider any feed but the most recent mill date Flock Raiser (any brand) with a can of oyster shell always present


That is a copy paste of another post I’ve made but basically, Feed all your chickens flock raiser from hatch until death

 

[BroKen1]

Also, why are you feeding layer to birds that are not laying? This is not good for them. Far better for their first eggs to miss some calcium than for their kidneys to suffer at a young age.


I use Purina flock raiser Mostly but I will purchase Any major brand that has the latest manufacture date when I go to the store (tractor supply).


The way I figure, more than half the year:
- you have chicks
- you have hens not laying due to daylight hours
- you have hens not laying due to molt (and this can be months and months of the year if you look at all the times any single hen is molting)
- You have a broody
- You might have a roo

I just see no reason to buy layer feed when any given day one of these factors could be impacting the flock and layer feed would negatively impact at least one bird. This is why I don’t even consider any feed but the most recent mill date Flock Raiser (any brand) with a can of oyster shell always present


That is a copy paste of another post I’ve made but basically, Feed all your chickens flock raiser from hatch until death

I was doing it because I was under the impression that it would promote egg production. This is the first time I’ve raised hens from chicks. I’ve always had adult hens before that were already laying. I’m I’m wrong there, please educate me.

 

[Doc7]

I was doing it because I was under the impression that it would promote egg production. This is the first time I’ve raised hens from chicks. I’ve always had adult hens before that were already laying. I’m I’m wrong there, please educate me.

layer feed does not promote egg laying. It provides extra calcium that goes to eggs and bone growth.

Providing the calcium in a separate dish (I nail and screw cat food cans filed with oyster shell around my run and in the coop) allows hens to get what they need and all the other birds to not get excess calcium which damages their kidneys. this includes a hen that is off lay for any reason.

some people just feed egg shells to their chickens. This is insufficient unless you are giving them more egg shells thanyour flock is laying.

Think about it - calcium has to go to bone growth and egg shells. if you give a hen her own egg shells back to her (crushed), some will go to bones, some to eggs. Repeat the cycle and you can see that the amount of calcium constantly spirals downward. This would be like hydrating yourself by only drinking your own pee. You need an external, additional source, whether it’s from storebought egg shells (A little crazy) or oyster shell (cheap and easy).

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm with @sourland on this one. While its my first flock, I've been going to TSC for years. Neither in FL nor TX have I seen them offer weeks-old chicks for sale, nor do they do so through their website. The TSC chick model seems to be cramming as many tiny days-old birds as they can into a couple galvanized troughs, and moving them $5 at a time as fast as they can.

Not sure your region of the country, but none of my stores had the space to pack in a bunch of birds this sized (5 weeks yesterday, in the overnight grow out):

instead of this (3 days after purchase from TSC):

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

We’re these chickens feathered out when you got them? It is kind of unlikely for a store like that to have birds that long especially these days. They would be flying out of the stock tanks by then. I have had a few Comet type chickens and they all started laying around 4 1/2 to 5 months. My guess is that they were not nearly as old as they said or they may not even be goldenComets, Tractor Supplies are not always reliable information sources. I usually feed my chicks a starter ration and then at the point of lay or around 16 or so weeks switch to a layer ration. I would probably recommend dropping the corn because that is lowering the overall protein for still developing birds.