29 weeks old and still not laying 😕

[Mommy of 1]

Hi! I have 1 golden commet that a friend gave me. She was already laying when I got her and she still is. So there is an egg in a box at least every other day. I was hoping my other chickens would learn by example.

I have 2 Isa Brown’s and 1 Rhode Island Red. All are hens, 29 weeks old, haven’t laid the first egg.They have a self feeder of layer crumbles that they have full access to all day, plenty of water at their disposal, and every morning they’re thrown a mixture of oats, oyster shell, rye, sunflower seeds, and flax. They were free ranging until around 23 weeks when we had a brazen raccoon get 11 in 3 days. They’re now in a coop with a run. They have a good sized coop with 10 nesting boxes. I’ve caught all of them sitting in a box any given time. I’ve put fake eggs in there and still nothing.

I also have 4 barred rocks, 4 astrolops, a silkie, a golden laced Wyandotte, and a buff Orpington. They’re all 19 weeks old. I realize it’s still early for them but I just wanted to throw that out there.

Any suggestions/comments are welcome

Attached is a picture of the coop and a picture of some of the birds before the raccoon terrorized the flock. The sweet little bantam didn’t make

 

[Mommy of 1]

Here’s picture of a couple 29 weekers. Their combs still aren’t bright red but all the other Rhode Island reds I’ve had, laid much much earlier than this.

 

[drinkoj]

29 weeks? Wow!

Wonder if while they were free ranging if they were hiding eggs from you and once the raccoon incident along with the change from free range to run, they are still in shock or adjusting.

 

[Mommy of 1]

While they were free ranging I had 4 that were laying. (3 of them turned into raccoon food ) They all laid in the hay bin in the barn so I would’ve assumed if the others started laying they wouldn’t lay too far from them. But maybe they would

I thought that too, about the raccoon throwing everything off, but it’s been almost 2mo since that happened. That seems a bit excessive for none of them to lay

 

[Baldwin]

I don't have advice, but want to say I'm sorry about the raccoon attack

 

[Mommy of 1]

I don't have advice, but want to say I'm sorry about the raccoon attack

Thank you. I took my boys camping for the weekend and left my husband in charge. He didn’t shut them up at night the whole time I was gone. I got home to feathers everywhere and I just happened to see the raccoon going after them when I was headed out to feed them mid day. I was quite devastated but on the flip side it forced my husband finally finished the run on the coop.

 

[Baldwin]

Raccons have given us problems on at least two occasions. Today we caught a bobcat circling the run. It's was an incredibly beautiful animal! This answered the question of a possible daytime predator who troubled us earlier this spring. Our birds can't free range any longer

 

[RainbowHen]

The combination of days getting shorter and a predator attack may be to blame. So sorry. If anything they will start in the spring.