barred rock laying issues...

[LindsayB]

Our barred rock is now 36 weeks and still not laying. She is hatchery stock from ideal. Its starting to get colder here and the daylight hours are shorter. Do ya'll think she will lay soon or wait until the spring? has anyone else had experience with late layers in the winter time? I'm afraid if she doesn't start soon she will be destined for the freezer. We only have room for 4 hens in our coop and she is the only one not laying. We really need the eggs...Any advice?

 

[FlashPointFarm]

Have you tried keeping her under lights? 16 hours of light per day should help.

 

[james w]

If you do decide to cull, you won't solve your egg problem. There is no hard and fast rule about when pullets start to lay. I raised a brood of 10 that hatched in April, some have already started, others have not. As I am sure you are aware, pullets mature in the shorter days of the winter so that by next spring they will be in full laying mode. I would give her a bit of time. What's the rush. Sure you could cull but then what will you do. Even hens bought as so called point of lay sometimes take a month or so to get started.

I would wait but only because you won't solve your egg issue any other way.

 

[Resolution]

Improve her diet. Animal fat and animal protein are missing from her diet- at least adequate amounts. These hatchery stocks are bred to live on vegetable grain based feeds but the occasional throw back -the one that hearkens back to the original stock -she'll lay longer and live longer because she's working with what nature intended versus what commercial utility -intensive farming intended. Just get some dry cat food and bird suet with nuts into her and make sure you have more than one feeding table.

 

[LindsayB]

Well, I'll have to disagree with you on that one. My chickens definitely have a wide variety in their diet. They free range in the afternoon in our backyard and eat plenty of bugs and grass. plus the skinks that are everywhere around here lol. I also throw out sunflower seeds without the shell for them and plenty of other treats. (right now they are playing with a pile of collard greens) Shes dominant bird of the 4 hens and pushes the others aside to eat her fill. I was thinking that maybe she was alittle on the chunky side and need to lose some fat...but with the nights getting cold here she might need that extra layer.

 

[emrys]

I can't say from experience but I've read that in a roosterless flock one hen will take on the roll of flock protector. She will stop laying, watch for danger, maintain order and generally fill the void. From what I've read, when that non-laying hen is culled another will stop laying and step into the roll of flock protector. You didn't mention a rooster as part of your flock so you may have a flockmistress simply doing her job.

 

[LindsayB]

wow that really makes alot of sense but now I'm even more confused on what to do. We are definitely not getting a rooster, they're not allowed.

 

[Ravishaw]

i have 4 barred rocks. The older one lost her dominant spot and is somewhere in the middle right now... yet somehow she still ends up next to my rooster every night... I guess the other hens really don't care.

But the older one has kind of gone on egg sabatical, and I'm not sure if she's laying.
I do know that one of my newer younger hens has started laying. The other two (same age) are holding out.

A watched pot never boils.

I'd like to watch them day round and find out which ones for sure are laying. I'm questioning my RIRs now. I'd like to know if they're off scholarship or not.

 

[Ravishaw]

Quote:
I don't know that they stop laying. My rooster seems pretty fearful and hides from any threat. I was alerted to two dogs in my yard by a wynadotte. She's a chunker and lays a pretty egg nearly every day.

Yet she always looks so disgusted and disgraced when I take 'em.