Do I have any Roo's? 32 weeks and still no eggs...

[echipping]

32 weeks and still no eggs! I know my Bantam wont lay for a while but I was sure the rest would have by now! They have been pretending to for over a month now sitting in their nest boxes periodically. So I am wondering if I have Roo's and am just completely unaware of it... What do you think?

 

[suliah]

look like mostly hens to me... I bet they're hiding eggs... Try locking them up in the coop for a couple days and see what happens.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Those are all pullets- are you absolutely certain of the age? If these are current photos they do not look to be that age.

 

[popsicle]

It's also perhaps getting to be the wrong time of the year to be expecting eggs. I didn't get eggs from my Silkies until they were something like 11-months old.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Are these hatchery stock or were they sourced from a breeder? Hatchery stock tends to mature faster that quality breeder lines.

 

[islandgirl82]

23 weeks perhaps but I agree with Ol Gray Mare, they don't look old enough to be 32 weeks.

And yes, as Suliah suggested - if you free range at all, check around for hidden nests/eggs.

 

[popsicle]

I also had a hatchery Easter Egger that I was convinced wasn't laying eggs. Until I saw her lay one on the highest roost--so it would fall and be immediately eaten. Then she was laying them in a thorny rose thicket.

 

[echipping]

I was gifted two of them from a local IFA when they still had their little egg horn on their beak and then decided a few days later we where going to keep them but they would need friends so we went back and got 4 more. That was March 28th, so that's about 32 weeks..right? I let them free range 3 days a week when I am home and can keep an eye on them since we have Large hawks in the area. I suspected hidden laying so this last week went around and did the fall clean up trimming all bushes and plants and raking everything in sight and still found no eggs. Maybe they are maturing slower than usual chickens? I fed them the grower starter stuff till they where 22 weeks about and then had someone at IFA tell me I needed to switch them to the 16% protein stuff so I did that at 22 weeks but read mixed opinions online about keeping them on the grower starter till they lay so now I mix the two 50/50. But they get gobs of table scraps plus worms my kids and I dig up and then the free range 3 times a week... what am I doing wrong? I am obviously new to the chicken thing but I love them to pieces and don't want to be hurting them from not taking proper care of them.

 

[suliah]

hatched in March??? Wow, my EE's were hatched in February and started laying in late July/early August... They have since stopped because of the shorter days, but I'm expecting they'll restart again in January when the days get longer again...

If you really want to do something, a timer light that mimics longer days might help... I hate putting light in my coops though, so I'll just live with no eggs for a while.

 

[sunflower4you]

32 weeks and still no eggs! I know my Bantam wont lay for a while but I was sure the rest would have by now! They have been pretending to for over a month now sitting in their nest boxes periodically. So I am wondering if I have Roo's and am just completely unaware of it... What do you think?

This looks like one of my Easter Egger pullets. She was the first of my 3 EEs to lay at almost 27 weeks old (she gave me my first egg last Saturday!). A few weeks before she laid her comb grew a lot. EEs can have different types of combs, but hers suddenly grew into a large, fluffy pea comb before she laid. Your girl does not have much comb development yet.

Here is my Caramel at 26 weeks:



Here she was at 14 weeks: