In addition to reddening combs, check your pullets' knobby butt bones on either side of the vent. Less than two fingers width and it will be a bit yet before they will be ready to lay. Two fingers width, and you should expect them to be ready soon.
Feeding layer ration does not make hens lay eggs. It's just a lower protein/higher calcium formula to support strong egg shells. It's not even necessary for laying hens as long as they're getting oyster shell free choice in addition to an all-flock feed. Those of us with mixed flocks don't even bother with layer feed, and my hens turn up their beaks at the taste, anyway.
If your pullets appear to be close to point of lay, you might try something I'm about to try. I have three six-month old EEs. Two of them are developing red combs and their butt bones are two fingers apart already. But the short days are conspiring against them starting to lay before February when the days will start getting long enough again to encourage egg laying.
What I did this morning was to get out a lamp fixture and a 60 watt red bulb (not a heat lamp!) These pullets occupy a coop with a three month old chick and a six-year old broody hen. I hung the lamp and plugged it into a timer set to come on two hours before sunrise. I wouldn't do this except that the older hen has pretty much completed her fall molt, so it's okay if she starts laying again. I'd rather not have the additional light stimulate egg laying before molt is completed which is hard on a hen's body. In a month, I will set the timer to come on three hours before sunrise to further extend the amount of light these pullets will be exposed to.
If this works, in a few weeks, I may be getting some pullet eggs! It beats waiting until February.
Again, I wouldn't recommend this if you have pre-point-of-lay pullets mixed in with older hens who are molting, although some people think nothing of supplementing light to encourage laying during molt. I have another coop inhabited by a full spectrum of hens of all ages in different stages of molt. They won't be getting any extra light until the last one completes her molt. By then they will probably be starting to lay again naturally, anyway.
Feeding layer ration does not make hens lay eggs. It's just a lower protein/higher calcium formula to support strong egg shells. It's not even necessary for laying hens as long as they're getting oyster shell free choice in addition to an all-flock feed. Those of us with mixed flocks don't even bother with layer feed, and my hens turn up their beaks at the taste, anyway.
If your pullets appear to be close to point of lay, you might try something I'm about to try. I have three six-month old EEs. Two of them are developing red combs and their butt bones are two fingers apart already. But the short days are conspiring against them starting to lay before February when the days will start getting long enough again to encourage egg laying.
What I did this morning was to get out a lamp fixture and a 60 watt red bulb (not a heat lamp!) These pullets occupy a coop with a three month old chick and a six-year old broody hen. I hung the lamp and plugged it into a timer set to come on two hours before sunrise. I wouldn't do this except that the older hen has pretty much completed her fall molt, so it's okay if she starts laying again. I'd rather not have the additional light stimulate egg laying before molt is completed which is hard on a hen's body. In a month, I will set the timer to come on three hours before sunrise to further extend the amount of light these pullets will be exposed to.
If this works, in a few weeks, I may be getting some pullet eggs! It beats waiting until February.
Again, I wouldn't recommend this if you have pre-point-of-lay pullets mixed in with older hens who are molting, although some people think nothing of supplementing light to encourage laying during molt. I have another coop inhabited by a full spectrum of hens of all ages in different stages of molt. They won't be getting any extra light until the last one completes her molt. By then they will probably be starting to lay again naturally, anyway.
