4 Chooks - only 1 lays eggs (~9 months old)

[fuwhereisfu]

Hi guys,

I'm new to caring for chooks. Bought four 6 m.o. ISA brown hens off a farm back around September and after a week or so of settling into their run + coop I started getting 1 egg a day. I thought that this would increase over time but it hasn't :\ . I've tried a few different things to nudge the others along: Put a light in for a couple of hours in the morning (when it was still short days- im in aus), fed laying pellets in addition to free range seed mix, wormed them, fed crushed shells to them for calcium.

My coop has at the moment a couple of nesting boxes, and as far as I can tell it's the one hen and it lays consistently in one of them. She doesn't appear clucky I dont think.. But i've never gotten more than 1 egg per day. Not sure what the problem may be.

Run size is maybe 10m x 6m, coop size 1m x 1.5m

Any advice would be really appreciated!!

Thanks,
Matt

 

[popsicle]

Are you sure they're 6 months and not older or younger? You could try posting pictures of the birds here or in the "What Breed or Gender" tab for some guidance.

6 months is when most people expect pullets to start laying, so they might just be late bloomers. I know ISAs should be good productive birds, but I've had some productive-breed hens take as long as non-productive breeds to start getting into the laying thing.

 

[fuwhereisfu]

Thanks popsicle, I'll post up some pics when I get home. 6 m.o. was what the lady told me when I picked them up.

Cheers

 

[salt and pepper]

are their combs large and red? that's a good sign if they are going to lay soon. i would love to see pics!

 

[cdb1949]

We have a variety of hens but it took about 2.5 months before they all were laying. We watched the combs turn from pale pjnkish to red and laying increased. It was warm outside after a couple months so I turned out their light. Egg production went down to 1, light back on and in 2 days all 5 hens are laying. Gotta have that light

 

[fuwhereisfu]

Here are some photos of my chooks

 

[fuwhereisfu]

THanks for the info cdb1949. I switched the light off the other day due to warmth too- no noticable difference (still getting the 1 egg a day). Will switch it back on. How long do you put the light on for?

 

[popsicle]

I wouldn't bother adding heat, too much heat can suppress laying also. If it's spring where you are you can just let the sun do the job.

They certainly look like they are old enough. Nice red combs look like they should be coming into lay. They're the right color for pullet ISA browns, so unless they are ISA browns bred to ISA browns, they shouldn't be cockerels.

I'm a bit concerned that one looks like she is molting--the one on the perch in the top photo. It looks like she's got sparse feathers on her neck, and missing some tail feathers. I've had chickens come into molt under a year old, but it's usually after they've been laying for a few months and going into winter. I suppose there is a chance that due to when the chicks were hatched compared to when winter came they didn't lay--but if she is molting I'd be more concerned that the birds are older than they say. I also believe that "early" molters are poorer layers than "late" molters.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

In winter months we used to use an energy efficient bulb on a timer to provide light predawn and a bit post dusk adding up to 12 hours total daylight for them. It definitely increases laying. Basically we never saw a reduction in laying of our pullets over winter with that amount of light. This year I didn't bother setting up the lighting but likely will next year. We never add heat either and come January experience a few night lows of -30F.

 

[Mychicagoladies]

I have 3 5mo. old barred rocks, one of them layed a small egg about a week and a half ago and nothing since then. Should I be worried?