23 and a half weeks, not a single egg yet!

[Debbie09011970]

My first Australorp to lay was almost 5 1/2 months with the others following a couple weeks later. They layed pretty steadily through their first winter. My first Buff Orpington took 19 weeks.

Did you have to use a light on them in the winter to make them lay or, since they are pullets, did you not?

 

[GLOMAH]

I have 4 pullets, and they're my first chickens, hatched on April 6th. I have two easter eggers, one black australorp, and one speckled sussex. My australorp has been squatting for two weeks, comb and wattles are huge and bright red. One easter egger has a nice red and thick pea comb. The others look a little bit behind, but reddened.

I have 0 eggs to show for it, lol. This is the longest wait. They are only let out of their run supervised so they're not stashing eggs anywhere. *sigh.*View attachment 3261789View attachment 3261794View attachment 3261795View attachment 3261793

You have some beautiful girls. I would not get discouraged. This past summer had some 115 degree heat indexes locally, which is a known factor in reducing or ceasing mature hen's lay cycles. I noticed that it seemed to take my girls an extra month to start laying.

 

[Eggstaticmom]

The three Spitzhauben girls are 24 weeks - no eggs - they are pretty confined so I don’t know if they want to free range or what

 

[Debbie09011970]

You have some beautiful girls. I would not get discouraged. This past summer had some 115 degree heat indexes locally, which is a known factor in reducing or ceasing mature hen's lay cycles. I noticed that it seemed to take my girls an extra month to start laying.

Mine have not laid since that horrible heat hit. Is there a chance the heat did something permanently to my birds?

 

[The Tiny Homestead]

Did you have to use a light on them in the winter to make them lay or, since they are pullets, did you not?

No, I didn't use any lights. I wanted them to do things as naturally as possible, and let them break when they need it. They did slow down some, but there was no short supply of eggs through the winter last year.

 

[BuddingGardener]

You have some beautiful girls. I would not get discouraged. This past summer had some 115 degree heat indexes locally, which is a known factor in reducing or ceasing mature hen's lay cycles. I noticed that it seemed to take my girls an extra month to start laying.

All of my girls are laying now except for my speckled sussex. She's 2 days over 7 months and nothing yet. Looking beautiful and awfully mature but no signs of squatting or nesting behavior, though she has a wonderful personality. My other three are laying pretty regularly even with shorter days, though they are a tad slower at the moment. My Black Australorp lady is far and away my rock star layer and her eggs are a clean 2 ounces each right now.

I just figure my speckled sussex will take her sweet little time.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have some older hens that were molting, they have not come back, I have 2 blue egg layers that have and one BCM come back from molt. 2 NN from April are laying, I have 3 hens EE that are late april, may or may not be laying, I also have hens from May 23 hatch, one white egg layer laying and one BCM laid for the first time today.

 

[The Tiny Homestead]

All of my girls are laying now except for my speckled sussex. She's 2 days over 7 months and nothing yet. Looking beautiful and awfully mature but no signs of squatting or nesting behavior, though she has a wonderful personality. My other three are laying pretty regularly even with shorter days, though they are a tad slower at the moment. My Black Australorp lady is far and away my rock star layer and her eggs are a clean 2 ounces each right now.

I just figure my speckled sussex will take her sweet little time.

I have 1 buff orpington like that. She is a week shy of 7 months. She is low in the pecking order and has a bit of a vision problem, as far as being slightly off the mark whie paecking for seeds. If I feed her sunflower seeds by hand, she can get them if she tilts hed head sideways. But, she is the sweetes girl you can imagine. She flys up onto my shoulder often, and without fail at the end of the day to get her shoulder ride into the coop and onto the roost. I always tell her it's okay if she never lays an egg, I just love her for the bird she is.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

It is time to have a talk with them, line them all up on the roost and lay down the law. Eggs or meat girls, the choice is yours.

 

[Mrs. K]

Mine are so slow this year! 5 pullets, and two eggs every couple of days, the second one just started, so I have fingers crossed.