Hens not laying?

[Rowzy]

I have 5 hens. They were hatched in May I believe and none of them are laying yet. Shouldn't they be?
I live in Washington State. I currently have no power in my coop (I can't figure it out whats wrong with the circuit breaker!) so I have no light. Is that the problem?

Thanks

 

[timbofarms]

My hens have no light either and hadn't started back laying yet. I have been considering adding lights to the runs.

 

[sewchick]

I am going to say yes because I have 6 hens I got them as day olds on Oct 17th and one has started to lay. I have a big window in the front of the coop. I think I read somewhere for every 8 hours of light they will lay an egg. I could be wrong.

 

[ghulst]

What kind of chicken do you have? Not all chickens are good egg layers. Lights will help.

 

[Rowzy]

Um they are all different breeds. I know Light Brahma, White Leghorn, Easter egger, but I have no clue on the other two. They are all pretty big and I have no clue why they arent laying. The rooster is starting to umm... Pay attention... to them but still nobody even looks like they want to lay an egg.

 

[digitS']

I live on the ID/WA border at about 48° north latitude. On December 21st, we were down to just over 8 hours of sunlight out of every 24. Without a light in the coop, my chickens would have been sitting on the roost in the cold and dark for nearly 16 hours at a stretch.

December especially was pretty tuff in this corner of the world. There were subzero temperatures and tons of snow. It was something of a shock for 6 month old pullets. The chickens wouldn't come out on the snow for over a month and I didn't let them out of the coop onto their sunporch when it was below zero. It's insulated in the coop even if water freezes in there when it's that cold.

Thru it all - my birds layed. One thing I did was to turn on a light in the coop when daylight hours fell below 11 - months ago, now. That was also about when freezing temperatures begin to persist thru the day (and that continues

).

I don't have heat in the coop and the hens are eating like Sumo wrestlers with their need for calories. They continue to lay well.

They need light along with lots of nutritious food to stay productive and warm . . . (or, you can wait a few more weeks and we'll have more daylight with the coming Spring

).

Steve

 

[CA-reds]

Some chickens wont lay because either being fed too much or not enough day light all depends on the breed and time of year and weather.

 

[Lesa]

I read posts like this all last winter and fully expected that my chickens would all but stop laying in the winter. I have 24 RIR's and I averaged 17 eggs per day. On a day that we got a ton of snow and single digit temps, I had a full production day at 24 eggs!!!! I have electricity in the coop, but did not add light. I do feed organic layer pellets and give frequent treats of bird seed, cracked corn, etc. I really recommend the organic feed. I know it is expensive, but with only a few birds, it seems like it might be worth the experiment. I would be awfully sad if I had chickens and no eggs...35 days till spring!!!

 

[Rowzy]

I feed my hens the only layer food that my feed store sells. Just generic layer pellet. I also feed them scratch in small amounts.
Somebody that I know said it had something to do with the fact that none of the hens had started laying last year? I'm not sure though. They also said my coop design was bad for them. -shrug-.
I have 4 hens now. One of my hens died of an unexplaned and sudden illness last night even after I tried all I could to keep her alive.
Also the cayotes get them if I let them out loose so I can't let them out of the coop.