my chickens wont start laying!!

[catrinacurtis]

I bought 5 different breeds from my local TSC store the day I got my meat layers from the local co-op (April 3rd). Out of my 23 hens only about 17 are laying. It's taken them quite a long time to get up to 17.

 

[marjs7]

I'm an amateur, but my sweet little hens are great layers! I say patience is the key. The less interested you are, the more interested they are in getting your attention by laying. No pressure! The thing I am curious about is how long can one expect a hen to lay. I have three that are going on two years and three that are new layers. Also, one day I received a real shocker ... one of my eggs was litterally the size of a goose egg! Huge!! I wish I had taken a picture. I gave it to a neighbor who thought her girls would get a big kick out of it. I thank my girls every day for their lovely eggs. It's so great to have warm fresh eggs untouched by any human hand but my own.

Everyone should have chickies!

 

[smudge]

It felt like forever from the first attempt at an egg song to the first egg. And the one that was doing all that singing - well, I still suspect she's not laying!

There are 2 others that I'm very sure are responsible for the eggs, as there's seems to be an actual correlation between them going into a nesting box and eggs appearing.

I actually got to the point yesterday of telling the girls Told them, No, I'm not anyone out to free range until I see at least 1 more egg."

Within minutes I heard some squaking imitation of an egg song. I had to go out and explain, "No, Lucille, I am not fooled by the plastic Easter eggs or golf balls."

Of course, I was only messing with them - I knew that I didn't have time to let them out until later.

They're toying with you OP!

 

[danalstokes]

Let me know if rubbing the egg on them works. :-/ I'm about ready to try anything!

 

[kkflagg]

My 3 marans and 1 EE are 27 weeks and no eggs for me yet. Hard not to wonder if I'm doing something wrong -- these are my first chickens. I feed them a good layer pellet, let them out to free range a few times a week for good chunks of time but I'm usually nearby at those times so don't think they've found some hidden nest somewhere. The days are still warm and sunny here in Cali, so I don't think that's a problem. Any suggestions?? What is this "egg song" that folks are mentioning? Is there any way to know that they are --about-- to start laying so I can stop fretting so (you know what they say about "watched pots")...

Thanks

Kirsten

 

[danalstokes]

I hear ya, Kirsten! I'm in the same boat! Fairly new to this, feeding them an organic feeder crumble, let them free range in a large country backyard, they can't get up under the house so I don't think they are laying anywhere I'm just not finding... I'm getting pretty frustrated! And I have no idea what an "egg song" is either! *smh Guess I'm gonna have to YouTube it! LOL