How can you tell how old your chicks are?

[jrsqlc]

i have recently recieved 10 hens in which i was told were born in march/april of this year.
i was also told that they were all laying.
Since they moved into my hen house, none of them are laying!

I was wondering if they is anyway to figure out how old a hen is?
And why if they were laying, why did they stop?

thanks to anyone who can help!!

 

[Mahonri]

Hens will typically either lay an egg the first day or two (and then stop for a week) or they will just wait a week to get used to new surroundings.

BTW:

Welcome to BYC!

We are so glad you found us.

Also... I've found that hens with real thick legs are OLDER.

 

[The Sheriff]

I have found that people who want to sell their older non-laying hens will lie about how old they are.

 

[felidaet]

I heard that people listing chickens on Craigs list frequently lie about the age to get rid of older birds. I personally will not acquire a grown pullet/hen for several reason. Unknown age is one of them. I will raise all of my from chicks. I am anxious for April for a major expansion (of new chicks) to my flock!

Are they molting or just getting over a molt? If so this could be the reason they are not laying and would also indicate that they are older than you were told.

What are you feeding them? Is it a layer feed or something else? If you are feeding them lots of treats you may wan to trying cutting back on the treats, table scraps, etc and have them eat primarily the layer feed.