Hen has never laid an egg

[MishMash7]

Day length has a much bigger effect than temperature.

It's common for people to provide supplemental light and get eggs all winter long, even in very cold climates.

On the other hand, you could keep chickens inside a climate-controlled building at the perfect temperature, and short days would still make them stop laying in the winter if there were no lights other than the natural sunlight.


There is a good chance that she will start laying sometime in the next few months, as the days keep getting longer.

But with that track record, she will probably never be a very GOOD layer. (Unless she has been laying all along and something has been happening to the eggs. Hidden nests, or eggs getting eaten by the hens or by other animals, are other reasons that you might find no eggs, but I'm guessing you have already checked for anything like that.

 

[MishMash7]

I can’t believe it. I saw her hanging out in the coop, and wondered what she was doing, so I checked the nesting box, and nada. Not like I was expecting anything, right? Looked two hours later, and to my surprise there was a light brown egg with speckles. And I’m thinking who is this from? And then it hit me, Ethel is the only Welsummer in that group, it’s a miracle, and she finally produced an egg! I waited 5 months for her to lay her first pretty little dark speckled egg and then 8 months for todays egg. Wonders never cease!!!

 

[NatJ]

I can’t believe it. I saw her hanging out in the coop, and wondered what she was doing, so I checked the nesting box, and nada. Not like I was expecting anything, right? Looked two hours later, and to my surprise there was a light brown egg with speckles. And I’m thinking who is this from? And then it hit me, Ethel is the only Welsummer in that group, it’s a miracle, and she finally produced an egg! I waited 5 months for her to lay her first pretty little dark speckled egg and then 8 months for todays egg. Wonders never cease!!!

She provided a pretty quick response to the question of when she would start laying again!

 

[cluck queen]

I have 30 hens, today I got 3 eggs. Of those 30 about 13 are my own I grew and hatched out. They are about 1 year old maybe a year and a few months. Still no eggs from them. I'll give them until July. If no eggs they will go into the freezer lol

 

[NatJ]

I have 30 hens, today I got 3 eggs. Of those 30 about 13 are my own I grew and hatched out. They are about 1 year old maybe a year and a few months. Still no eggs from them. I'll give them until July. If no eggs they will go into the freezer lol

If they are that old and have never laid eggs, you might do a double-check on what you are feeding (to be sure the feed meets all their basic needs) and how they are living (to be sure they haven't been able to hide eggs or something similar.) It sounds like they hatched quite early last spring, so I might have expected them to start laying last fall (depending on the breed-- some mature fast enough to do that, some do not.)

But if everything else seems right, and they don't start laying as the days get long, I would agree that putting them in the freezer makes perfect sense. At least that way you would get SOME use out of the slackers

 

[FunClucks]

I have 30 hens, today I got 3 eggs. Of those 30 about 13 are my own I grew and hatched out. They are about 1 year old maybe a year and a few months. Still no eggs from them. I'll give them until July. If no eggs they will go into the freezer lol

x2 on what NatJ said. Also look at how much sunlight they're getting per day. If they don't get enough, they won't be triggered to start laying and to continue to lay. For instance, I raise mine in a covered run with a transparent/clear-ish tarp over top. I get tons of eggs practically year-round, even from my older layers who take short molts, and I have a variety of types of eggers. Other folks in my area who have coops with roofs have a definite stop and start in production that is longer than mine. They have coops with roofs that let in no sunlight when they're in there, while mine get as much sunlight as the heavens can produce. I think that makes a difference.

I feed all mine 20% all flock with oystershell and grit on the side, if that helps.

 

[cluck queen]

x2 on what NatJ said. Also look at how much sunlight they're getting per day. If they don't get enough, they won't be triggered to start laying and to continue to lay. For instance, I raise mine in a covered run with a transparent/clear-ish tarp over top. I get tons of eggs practically year-round, even from my older layers who take short molts, and I have a variety of types of eggers. Other folks in my area who have coops with roofs have a definite stop and start in production that is longer than mine. They have coops with roofs that let in no sunlight when they're in there, while mine get as much sunlight as the heavens can produce. I think that makes a difference.

I feed all mine 20% all flock with oystershell and grit on the side, if that helps.

My run doesn't have a top per say. It's all chicken wire on top and nothing to block sunlight. I have their coop facing the sunrise as well. I got 4 eggs yesterday and only 1 today hahaha better than nothing I suppose. I feed mine 16 percent with black sunflower seeds and cracked corn and scraps when I have them. I also let them forage when I'm not at work for a couple hours before sunset.