Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[Steampunked]

No real point to this post but...nearly six months, eleven hens, multiple breeds, not a single egg.

Sigh!

 

[IamSamSam]

No real point to this post but...nearly six months, eleven hens, multiple breeds, not a single egg.

Sigh!

Awww. They will lay soon once your given up hope

but we love them Anyways

 

[Fancychooklady]

No real point to this post but...nearly six months, eleven hens, multiple breeds, not a single egg.

Sigh!

Don't lose faith. I've probably asked you this , but what is the protein level on the feed bag ?
If all else fails , start sprinkling paprika or cayenne pepper on their feed. They say it increases their metabolism and circulation. Might just be an ' old wives tale ' but chickens have no heat receptors in their mouth so it s probably worth a try.
What breeds have you got ?

 

[Ashburnham]

No real point to this post but...nearly six months, eleven hens, multiple breeds, not a single egg.

Sigh!

Light is the key.
Give them more hours of "'daylight'" and they will start to lay.
I use a light on a timer to give an extra 2 hours light in the mornings.
(And good nutrition of course)


xxxx M

 

[Steampunked]

Don't lose faith. I've probably asked you this , but what is the protein level on the feed bag ?
If all else fails , start sprinkling paprika or cayenne pepper on their feed. They say it increases their metabolism and circulation. Might just be an ' old wives tale ' but chickens have no heat receptors in their mouth so it s probably worth a try.
What breeds have you got ?

Not yet! I've been a bit quiet recently (my 3.5 year old human is going through a growth spurt, house has issues, so chicken stuff has had to go on the back burner).

It's Barastoc golden yolk layer feed - I was getting them the fancy shmancy all organic layer freerange feed from another brand, but they only picked out all of the goodies and hooked the pellets onto the floor to waste - just like everyone warned me they would. Oh well. Google tells me it's:

Crude Protein (minimum) - 15%
Crude Fat (minimum) - 2.5%
Crude Fibre (maximum) - 10%
Salt (maximum added) - 0.3%
Copper (added) - 6.5mg/kg
Selenium (added) - 0.1mg/kg
Calcium (minimum) - 3.8%

They also completely free range 4-5 days out of 7 in a bush back yard of about 1/3 an acre and occasionally get things like all the grubs in a wasp nest. I plant forage for them sometimes, but it rarely gets to the point where they'd be getting much protein as they kill it too quickly.

I have heard that paprika and cayenne have other benefits as well, actually, including making it slightly more difficult for gut parasites to exist.

I've wondered if they're laying elsewhere, but sometimes they're forced to remain in their run for 3 days straight, and I haven't seen any eggs there either.

Hens, I have 1 Maran, 2 Anconas, 2 light sussex, 1 silver laced wyandotte, 1 silkie, 2 Belgian d'Uccles,1 lavender araucana.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Not yet!  I've been a bit quiet recently (my 3.5 year old human is going through a growth spurt, house has issues, so chicken stuff has had to go on the back burner).

It's Barastoc golden yolk layer feed - I was getting them the fancy shmancy all organic layer freerange feed from another brand, but they only picked out all of the goodies and hooked the pellets onto the floor to waste - just like everyone warned me they would.  Oh well.  Google tells me it's:

Crude Protein (minimum) - 15%

Crude Fat (minimum) - 2.5%

Crude Fibre (maximum) - 10%

Salt (maximum added) - 0.3%

Copper (added) - 6.5mg/kg

Selenium (added) - 0.1mg/kg

Calcium (minimum) - 3.8%

They also completely free range 4-5 days out of 7 in a bush back yard of about 1/3 an acre and occasionally get things like all the grubs in a wasp nest.  I plant forage for them sometimes, but it rarely gets to the point where they'd be getting much protein as they kill it too quickly.

I have heard that paprika and cayenne have other benefits as well, actually, including making it slightly more difficult for gut parasites to exist.

I've wondered if they're laying elsewhere, but sometimes they're forced to remain in their run for 3 days straight, and I haven't seen any eggs there either.

Hens, I have 1 Maran, 2 Anconas, 2 light sussex, 1 silver laced wyandotte, 1 silkie, 2 Belgian d'Uccles,1 lavender araucana.

Ok, so the protein should be around 17% and ideally you don't want the calcium to exceed 3% , especially for birds that aren't laying, and if you have roos in the flock under 2% .
I can't speek for the other breeds but silkies often don't lay till between 6-8 months and sussex and wyandotte around 6 months. The good thing about heritage birds is that while they are ' late bloomers ' they lay for many years to come. ( unlike hybrids ).

 

[Kooka]

Ok, so the protein should be around 17% and ideally you don't want the calcium to exceed 3% , especially for birds that aren't laying, and if you have roos in the flock under 2% .
I can't speek for the other breeds but silkies often don't lay till between 6-8 months and sussex and wyandotte around 6 months. The good thing about heritage birds is that while they are ' late bloomers ' they lay for many years to come. ( unlike hybrids ).

My Wyandotte took 6months to lay.

 

[vehve]

I think the feed sounds pretty okay, as long as the protein composition is in balance. Can you find a breakup of the proteins for that feed somewhere? Methionine is usually the tricky one to get balanced. 17% sounds a bit high, I'd stay at 15%-16%, slightly higher during molt and of course younger birds require slightly higher protein. To me, all of those breeds sound like late bloomers too, and taking into account the fact that they have only been about 3-4 months old when the days started getting shorter there, you might still be waiting a while for the eggs. Additional lighting is the trick, as mentioned before, about 14 hours of light per day should work. Just know that if you trick them into laying with added light, you're also shortening their lifespan, or at least the time that they'll be productive.

 

[Kooka]

Ì have a mixed age flock,mature 5-6 yo, offspring 2-3yo, and now 3 that are about 6mo now going into autumn/winter. They are all on the same feed......Golden Yoke + rice sardine olive oil for them what are molting.
In the past i was worried about the feed protien levels for the 3, just impossible to target feed!!

 

[Fancychooklady]

Ì have a mixed age flock,mature 5-6 yo, offspring 2-3yo, and now 3 that are about 6mo now going into autumn/winter. They are all on the same feed......Golden Yoke + rice sardine olive oil for them what are molting.
In the past i was worried about the feed protien levels for the 3, just impossible to target feed!!

For people with mixed flocks it can be a mine field. I feed mine a higher protein up to 35 weeks then drop it to 15-16% . Too much calcium in non laying birds can and does cause visceral gout. Most feeds are targeted at production hens and not ' backyard flocks ' . The production hens are spent by the age of 2 where as your average backyard enthusiast wants nothing more than a long lived healthy bird. My gold laced wyandotte hens are 7 years old and still laying like clock work. It's taken me a while to get it right and in the early days I had a high turn over roos but since I dropped the calcium level they too are longer lived.
Most pelletised feeds have the vitamins , minerals and amino acids required but these elements can be diminished by moisture and or incorrect storage.