Girls still not laying!

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

I still have one Barred Rock hatched April 9th that has not laid yet. Also have BO and SLW that have not laid; hatched April 15th. Just had one BO that began to lay and a couple of SLW.

It is a 'waiting' game.

 

[enggass]

6 born May 4th/ Got one small egg last Saturday - not sure from which. Nothing since...

 

[7L Farm]

I have 1 out of 10 laying sure I want more but I have no choice but to be patient & wait. But I figure its worth the wait cause the one thats laying is like clock work .

 

[allieloveschickens]

oops 5 months! Well I'm glad to hear other people have hens that take a while to lay, my girls just finished their grower feed so they are now eating layer feed, but lots of other goodies too.. spinach, lettuce, grass clippings, zucchini, blue berries.. hopefully they will be laying soon, I didn't think they were barren by any means I'm just impatient! Thanks folks

 

[downstownlady]

We have 10 ladies and out of those, 3 are BR, 3 BO, 2 GSL & 2 EE, there are only 4 out of the 10 laying (we know that both the EE's are laying...LOL). I switched from Grower Granules to Laying Granules after the first egg and put out free choice oyster shell for added calcium. I think I might mix the two as although they get daily treats of BOSS and whatever else (greens, yogurt, scrambled or boiled eggs etc.,) They started laying last week and on Sunday we got our first dozen. We have got 4 now and all the nest boxes are in place, today we finished the inside roosts and once we get the perm roof on we should be just about ready to sit back and enjoy them for awhile. Yep...were with the group of "let's wait just a day or two more...they're so small...we have plenty of time!"

 

[Super Chickenman]

Yup, I know all about the wait. 6 hens, 3 egg layers

1 year old golden sex link that is an egg laying machine. 1 a day.

2 20 mo old golden sex links...no eggs yet.

1 dark Brahma, hatched in MARCH, no eggs yet. Which she is a little odd anyway. She will stay in the coop and on the roost until 9 or 10 am. The others are up and out by 7:30!

1 light Brahma, egg a day but reallly small, also hatched in March

1 Black sex link, also hatched in March, egg a day.

Why the other three have not kicked in yet, I have no idea...

 

[jonnyschicks]

YEA my gold and silver dotte's are about 20 1/2 weeks and still waiting and I'm leaving for a week and I just know as soon as my wife gets home from taking me to the airport she get the joy of getting our first egg

Oh well

.. and my luck the whole flock will be lying when I get home

 

[MakNugget]

My last of my April pullets still haven't laid at 26 weeks. I swear she's playing games with me. If it weren't for my other two girls giving me eggs daily, I would probably lose my mind.

In the last 23 days since beginning of lay, my RIR (@ 23 weeks) only took 1 day off giving me 22 eggs. My BO (@24 weeks) took 3 days off at almost half the number (12). All my BA does is watch, toy around in the nest box from time to time, and try to roll out the golf ball and bury it in the litter.

I've had to resort to a new hobby of growing wheat grass to distract myself... sheesh.

 

[chicks47]

In regards to the feed being related to laying: I can understand it being somewhat relative that the hen would have to have the 'right stuff' to produce an egg, proper nutrition etc.
When you hear some laying at 18 weeks though you get excited that your own chickens should be doing so.
It is really quite interesting to hear everyone's perspective. I am sure raising chickens is not much unlike raising a child... and everyone has their theories and methods there too. This is our first time with the girls so we ask around a lot. While many have said to start the layer feed at 18 weeks, the farm/feed store that we got the chicks from said to finish our grower and that is fine. Our chickens mostly free range, but their feed is always available to them at their coop. Between the bugs, flowers, grass and feed I should think they are finding a pretty good diet. We go through the feed a bit slower with them free ranging. Nonetheless, we now have the layer feed which also has the oyster shells in their diet now.
So we wait.....

 

[dsqard]

I also have to agree with the amount of protien they get while they are growing could affect when they start laying. I have 4 pullets that were supposedly born in the beginning of March (these are not my 20 week olds of course) and when I brought them home I really noticed how much smaller they were than the wyandottes I had gotten as one month olds in June. I think the food the lady was feeding my newer chickens was much lower in protien than what I had been feeding my original chickens. I started mixing in game bird feed with the grower food and the new chickens shot up. They are still not laying but they are now the same size as the other birds. Of course there are a few other factors that come in too like the newer ones are pure Ameraucanas and my original girls are hatchery stock so that could affect POL or they could just be younger than what the lady told me. I probably won't ever know for sure but I was amazed at how fast the Am's caught up with the Dotte's once they had a good amount of protien. I am not trying to get them to lay any sooner than their bodies are ready, I am just trying to make sure they have everything they need to be healthy chickens.