24 weeks old and no eggs yet

[aart]

It's kinda silly, but, when they squat I stroke the base of their tail, like I'm a rooster. (Don't judge me, I think it works)

Umm, no.....

They will squat if ready, it won't stimulate them to be ready to lay.

 

[Molly Bee]

Just a followup....I got one brown egg yesterday and a blue egg from my Easter Egger today. She let me know it, too....could hear her from the house!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Just a followup....I got one brown egg yesterday and a blue egg from my Easter Egger today. She let me know it, too....could hear her from the house!

Congratulations on the eggs.

I have a few bits of information to offer.
Egg laying and procreation for most species is dictated by day length, or more accurately whether light period is increasing vis a vis dark period or vice versa.
Temperature and weather has virtually nothing to do with it. In most parts of the world it just happens to be cold when days get shorter but the same thing happens in warm climates when days get short.
For chicks that hatched at the end of June, I would be surprised to get eggs at 20 weeks for any breed other than perhaps a Leghorn.
When your chickens reached 20 weeks this year, your days were 4 hours shorter than at summer solstice (when they were a month old). That declining day length most of their lives slowed sexual maturity. Your days will get 5 minutes shorter before they start getting longer so you can probably expect all of them to start in the next month or so if not adding light to the coop.

Also regarding signals that point of lay Is imminent.
I have raised so many pullets that I no longer put much faith in the common signs like red combs/wattles and squatting. The space between pelvic bones is a better indicator that they are at POL.
I had an Orpington hen that never developed a bright red comb. Comb and wattles were always pale and shriveled yet she laid well for years. I had a hen this past winter that had a large bright red comb and wattles all through winter but she stopped laying in fall along with the rest.
I haven't had a hen squat for me in about 10 years but I've gotten close to ten thousand eggs in that time.
Some breeds will squat but just as many won't and they are much less likely to do so if a rooster is present. Essentially, squatting is a desire to breed, not that eggs are necessarily forthcoming.
I tracked egg production for 4 flocks one entire winter along with daily high/low temperature, precipitation(whether rain or snow) and wind speed. There was zero correlation between production and weather.

I wrote the following several years ago explaining the science.
"Light exposure to the retina is first relayed to the nucleus of the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that coordinates biological clock signals. Fibers from there descend to the spinal cord and then project to the superior cervical ganglia, from which neurons ascend back to the pineal gland. The pineal gland translates signals from the nervous system into a hormonal signal.
When light periods are shorter, the gland produces serotonin and subsequently, melatonin. That's the hormone that affects the gonads for sperm production in males and ovulation in females. An increase in melatonin causes the gonads to become inactive. As I said earlier, photoperiod in relation to day vs. night is the most important clue for animals to determine season. And by extension, when to reproduce. As light lengthens, the gonads are rejuvenated. The duration of melatonin secretion is directly proportional to the length of the night because of the pineal gland's ability to measure daylength. Besides reproduction, it also affects sleep timing and blood pressure regulation."

ETA
I wanted to add that even blind chickens can tell season and day length. The light penetrates the skull and still gets the signal to the pineal gland.