8 month old Wyandottes not laying yet

[Jorn]

Hi all,

I have 2 golden laced wyandottes that ar just over 8 months old but they are not laying yet. I have searched the garden many times so I know they are not hiding them. I am in the southern hemisphere so it is winter down here but the other hens from this same clutch (different owners) have been laying for some time. The other hens were put in with more mature birds if that makes any difference. I only have the 2 of them and have had them since about 3 months of age.

Their face is bright red but they haven't grown a comb yet. I know they don't grow a large comb but the top of their head is completely flat with just that tiny knob they had when they were pullets.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as the kids really want some eggs.

Jo

 

[FlashPointFarm]

Can you post pictures of the birds and post some info on how they are fed?

 

[Jorn]

Here the best quality pics I could get. They are camera shy!

When I first got them I fed them grower crumble. At about 20 weeks there were no eggs (the others from this clutch were already laying), so someone suggest I switch to layer. I gradually introduced layer mash, but after 4 weeks with still no eggs, I thought the extra calcium wasn't needed, and I still had a heap of grower. So from then on I have been mixing grower crumble with layer mash. They also get a handful of Darling Downs Layer which is like a scratch mix or cracked corn every now and again just for them to scratch around for and the odd table scrap.

They are free range most days and locked in their house at night. Food and water in suspended dispensers to stay clean.

 

[FlashPointFarm]

I can give you my two cents, for what it's worth. Just put it in your pocket and do with it as you wish.

Hopefully others chime in to give ideas to help figure out this dilema.

They look healthy and beautiful.

It sounds like they are getting a good diet with free ranging. A little extra protien never hurts. Neither does a deworming schedule.

Hens like it quiet, could they be disturbed while you are away during the day? Are your hens flighty? It could be the heat, possibly?

They could very well be laying and you not getting the eggs for a number of reasons. A fellow BYCer stated that her hens stopped laying when her rooster died. She couldn't figure it out. Until one day, she found her husband throwing the eggs into the woods. He thought that since they didn't have a rooster, the eggs wouldn't have yolks anymore and were no good.

I've heard other storys about eggs being eaten by snakes and dogs. Or, the hens could be eating the eggs themselves.

In any case, I hope you get the figured out. I'm hoping it isn't the latter. Best of luck to you.

 

[Me + Peeps]

I have black/blue wyandottes and they are 8-9 months old and they lay and have large combs are you sure those are 9 month old

 

[Jorn]

Age is definitely right. They hatched end of October. We do have a couple of rabbits, one of which occasionally chases them. The rabbits are only free range when we are home as they can't be trusted out all the time like the chooks.

I thought it was strange they hadn't grown a comb yet either, but their face is already red.

I have tried threatening to eat them, but they obviously know I would never actually do that, so have thus far ignored the suggestion!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

This may sound odd, but get some of the plastic eggs they put candy in at easter and fill each egg with dirt or sand and close it up.

Place them in their nest box (at least 2 each box)

When I did that, all of a sudden I was getting eggs. I don't know if my hens were eating them and stopped when they couldn't peck the plastic ones open. Or they might have laid them on the floor and considered them food (table scraps)

It won't hurt to try. They also sell ceramic brown and white eggs. They look pretty real, but the plastic ones were handy so I used them.

 

[Jorn]

I placed a brown ceramic dummy egg in their nest box a few months ago. Do you think i need more than one in there?

 

[lisahaschickens]

I'm going out on a limb here, but how far south are you in the southern hemisphere? In your winter (as it is now), do you have many hours of darkness? Some hens stop laying all winter if they don't have enough hours of daylight, unless they are given a lightbulb in their coop that turns on a couple of hours before dawn (it should not stay on at night) in order to extend the hours of light exposure per day.

If a chick is born late in the spring and doesn't reach point-of-lay until it's winter, she could wait all the way until next spring before she lays. Some people use the lightbulbs to counteract this and they get some eggs in the winter (though often less than in the lighter months).

If daylight is not the problem here, then I really don't have any idea... but your hens look absolutly beautiful and healthy! Amazing coloration - very nice birds indeed.

Gooed luck to you!

 

[Jorn]

Lack of light is the only thing I can put it down to. What threw me is the fact that the other hens from the same clutch are laying, making me jealous indeed. But as I say the others were put into existing flocks. Maybe the older girls "showed them the ropes". I live in SE Australia and I would say we are probably getting about 10-11 hours daylight a day.

Not interested in wiring a light up in the coop. Happy to just wait until longer days arrive but trying to rule everything else out first. I am just impatient.