April Chicks...Should be Laying?

[Ivytalon]

Well they all have big red combs and little hen wattles, they even scream egg songs, I've looked all over the coup and there is no sign of eggs! At 6 months I would assume the early eggers should have at least started, maybe i'm rushing things but it seems a bit late!

There is one Egyptian, one buff chantecler, one blue splash marans, one buff laced polish, one blue laced polish, and one black Sumatra.

Also! The black Sumatra has wry back, her tail goes at a 90 degree angle too, I worry she will have trouble passing her eggs, maybe not even make the first one.. any opinions on her would be highly valued.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Hmm, I'm not sure why your birds aren't laying. I've gotten chicks in April before, and they started laying in August. Has anything stressful, like a predator attack, ocurred lately? Stress can cause chickens to not lay/stop laying. Are you feeding them layer feed? And, is there any place that they could be hiding their eggs? Daylight hours are decreasing now, so your chickens might not start laying until spring.

As for your Sumatra, I haven't had any experience with chickens with wry backs. I'm not sure whether it will affect her egg laying or not.

 

[BantamLover21]

Most chickens do begin laying at 5-6 months, so your flock is a bit unusual. However, each individual bird is different; some will take longer to begin laying than others and some may begin laying early. Several of the breeds you have are not known for being prolific egg layers, so they make take some time to begin laying.

Factors that can cause chickens to not lay eggs include stress (caused by predators, disease, heat, etc.), molting (however, yours shouldn't be doing this yet), and decreasing daylight hours. Egg production will go down when the hours of daylight are less than about 14. Once the days grow longer, egg production will come back quickly. If your pullets don't begin laying soon, it is possible that they won't lay until spring.

 

[Ivytalon]

We did have construction work around their coup last week but I doubt that would be effecting them this much. They get layer pellets, corn, and dried worms mixed with pellets as scratch during the day. Three water dispensers, and a pen that has access to a section of the woods we fenced off for them. To my knowledge there hasn't been any predator attacks, I haven't heard any coyotes around on the golf course or the hunting reserve either. We're in the mid to low 60's now for day time temperature, but last week we had a small heat wave where the high was 75. I usually don't install heat lamps until its low fifty's all the time.

 

[smallbluejellybean]

I am having the same problem. My pullets are 7 months old and hatched in March and not a single egg. Your problem is my problem too. Hope someone can come up with a cause so we can fix it or they start laying? Which ever comes first would please me.