Why are my 9-month-old hens not laying?!

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

My guess: they are probably not getting enough food.

A common estimate is 1/4 pound of dry feed, per bird, per day for standard sized laying hens, in addition to as much water as they want to drink.

That would mean 20 hens eat a 40 pound bag of feed every 8 days. Or they eat a 50 pound bag every 10 days. What size bag do you usually buy, and how long does it last?

When people measure and weigh dry feed, they usually find that 1/4 pound of dry feed is between 1/2 cup and 1 cup, depending on the brand. That would mean 20 chickens need between 10 cups and 20 cups of dry feed per day, not the 4 cups of dry feed you are using. Your chickens are probably starving (literally), and that is why they are not laying.

Water is not a substitute for food. Measuring the amount of food after you add water, then comparing to someone else's dry measurement, is going to cause trouble (whether you are using cups or pounds, the problem is the same either way: water makes the food bigger and heavier, but does not add any more nutrition.)

FEED THOSE LADIES!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

That may help, but don't throw out the food you have. Feed the current food to them as well (so they are getting more total food, preferably as much as they want to eat.)

If they have not been getting enough, then they need more protein, more calories, more vitamins and minerals-- more of everything. So a higher percent protein may help a bit, but just feeding a larger amount of food should help too.

adding some vitamins is something you could do to help with overall health as well.

 

[NatJ]

adding some vitamins is something you could do to help with overall health as well.
View attachment 3788194

I would not waste the money, time, or effort to add anything special yet.
Just give a properly balanced chicken food, as much as they want to eat for several weeks, before doing anything more complicated.

Most times when people are underfeeding chickens, they are trying to save money. So spending the money on chicken feed, not supplements, makes sense for those cases. Based on some comments from the OP of this thread, I think that is the case here.

Other times when people are underfeeding chickens they think they are keeping them healthy (not letting them get fat), or they just don't know how much of what chickens need. In those cases, adding supplements is a distraction from the real issue (learning what amount of food is actually correct for chickens to stay healthy.)

If the chickens eat the correct amount of food each day, they should also get the correct amount of vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes, because those things are in the food too. (Everything I said here is assuming the person is able to buy a properly-balanced complete chicken feed. Some places in the world that is not possible, so my advice would be wrong for people living in those places.)

 

[kodster]

Not unusual for the pullets to not lay over the winter when it's their first season. I had an American Bresse pullet that would've been old enough to start laying before winter set in last November... but didn't lay an egg at all. She was the first one to start laying last month, and the rest of my girls (13 in all) have been catching up to her. The other 12 were laying since last July... the American Bresse is younger than they are. She just did what comes naturally... waited until spring, when any chicks that would hatch would be able to survive. She doesn't know that her eggs were meant for eating and for food during the winter for us humans. In fact, none of my girls laid one egg during the winter months. But now, they're going gang-busters.

So, you've got 9-month olds who will soon start laying for the first time. They will. Be patient.

 

[cookinmama]

Do you free range? And do they have a lawn or pasture to forage and graze in? Fermented feed may be healthy, but by limiting their mealtimes to twice a day you may not be allowing them to eat whenever they need to.

Yes, this correct. Birds/chickens don’t eat twice a day like a dog. They are “grazers” and eat all day long. Mine lay everyday and we only feed extra calcium feed for layers. They are a year old and have been laying everyday. Even during the winter!! I have three and they are awesome! Golden rockets. Bought them raised for $10 a piece and they were worth every penny because they never fought and they are the friendliest chickens move ever known!

 

[Judy Todd]

I have 20 hens, 8 Buff Orpingtons, 5 Silver Laced Sussex, 2 Isa Browns, 4 Ameraucanas, and one mystery hen. They all are 9 months old. I have lights in the coop and a few months ago, one hen started laying. Then three days later we had a cold snap and she stopped laying. I have not got an egg from any of my hens since. I am feeding them Scratch and Peck layer feed which I ferment. I rotate through 3 containers and do a batch in each; they ferment 3 days before I feed them to the chickens. I thought they were not getting enough food (at the time I was feeding them 1/4 cup per bird a day) so, last month I upped their food a little. As they still didn't lay, I upped it even more a few days ago. Now I ferment 4 cups per batch which doubles to 8 cups (just under 1/2 cup per bird). Recently I started feeding half of it to them in the morning the rest in the evening. They always eat all available food at a feeding.

If they are cleaning up the food at every feed, they are starving. Why aren't you free feeding, they will not over feed, they regulate themselves. I keep feed in front of them 24 7 and never have fat hens. They all start laying at 5 to 7 months depending on breed.

 

[Lauradobbs65]

Don't they need a lot of calcium to lay?

Hatch to hen until they lay. Then layer feed. I have 24 hens in the puget sound area and get 20-24 eggs a day. Hens are about a year old now. Production really increased about 3 weeks ago.

 

[RoyalChick]

Feeding just twice a day is not at all natural for a chicken. They spend daylight hours cycling through eating, digesting and eating again.
That is why free feeding works so well. Otherwise I would have to be constantly running out with a bowl of food.
This morning I gave mine a big bowl of pellets soaked overnight in milk. They stuffed their faces and it is about half gone and they are resting and preening and sunbathing.
Within the next hour at least half of them will have gone back to the bowl and finished it off.

 

[Estrella]

Agree with all before me; feed those ladies! 24/7! My flock of 15 goes through a 40 lbs bag of feed/week (though to be fair, a lot of it end up on the ground in their encolsed yard), they free range, they have free access to a huge compost aaand they get treats. If you can’t afford to feed your chickens maybe don’t keep so many?

 

[Chickenclaude]

I feed my layers at least 1/2 cup each, table scraps and make sure that they always have fresh water.
And I free range them when I can be out there them.