20+ week old chickens still hav not laid a single egg???

[jcreagan78]

Hi everyone!

We had all of our chickens killed by a fox in late May of this year, we got new chicks approx. the last week of May first week of June. These chickens have still not laid a single egg. We have done everything exactly the same as our last group, they laid extremely well. We are stumped! The only difference is we got these chickens about a month or two later than the last group (we got in April). It has gotten quite cold here, we are in North West Colorado but put a heater in right away and still nothing. It gets nice and warm during the day 60-70 degrees, and as low as 20 at night. Any advise?


Thanks!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What breed(s) are your birds? At about 22 weeks of age your birds are in no way delayed in production at this point. Are you seeing changes in comb and wattle size, color and texture yet? Are you noticing submissive squatting?

 

[jcreagan78]

We have a mix, a buff, Americana, golden Wyandotte, bantam & Rhode island red. I guess I am just surprised they have not laid, as our last were laying well around this time last year and it was a similar mix. They may just need a few more weeks. Our biggest concern is that we have heard if they don't start laying well before winter then they may not lay well during winter. Have you found this to be true?

 

[Percheron chick]

20 weeks is still young. They are going to start later than spring chicks but they will be laying by the holidays. Turn the heat off. Not going to impact laying.