How long should I wait for my hens to start laying before I should be worried?

[Olimattrang1007]

I have 4 chickens - 2 black australorps and 2 rhode island reds. All were about a week old when we got them on june 22nd.



In that time, we had a big move to an area 2 and half hours northeast of where we were in Pennsylvania. We had sprung backwards due to daylight savings where we start to get dark by 4/430 due to sun blocked by the mountain. They are entering colder months where its reaching 30s as of now with it only getting colder in coming weeks.



They are just at the 5 month mark (22 weeks). They are full bodied and have a nice build. They have nice red coming through. But they are very skittish. There is no signs of them laying.



They arent free ranging much anymore since the pack leaders were killed. If they leave the dark coop, they go under the dark pine tree and roost under there. They arent making the egg laying noises at all. They sleep in the nesting boxes no matter what we have tried to deter or block from them.



Is it possible a hen will never lay an egg? How long should I give it before I am concerned or decide to give these away for new ones?

 

[Debbie292d]

Hens will lay when they're ready to lay, and yours may not quite be ready or able to. Plus with winter coming, they spend a lot of their energy keeping warm, so less goes to egg production even if they were laying.

Do you have them on a layer feed or all flock type with some oyster shell in a dish on the side?

 

[WingItRanch]

Since they weren't born until later in the year, they may wait until spring to lay when you have more daylight. 22 weeks is not usually old. Mine started laying around the 28 week mark and that was with long daylight hours since they were born early April.

There's really no way you can force or encourage them to start laying. It's just like puberty with humans... it will happen when they're ready and not a second sooner. Giving these up and getting new ones would be a disservice to yourself because you've invested time and feed into them. Don't give up.. they will lay eggs for you when they reach sexual maturity. You may get an soon or you may get one in 3 months...

 

[rosemarythyme]

Patience. You give these away for new ones, and all you do is reset the wait cycle (and meanwhile someone else is enjoying the eggs you would've had).

Your birds are still young and shorter daylight hours can delay onset of laying by weeks or even months. I would not be surprised if you don't get anyone laying until after winter solstice when daylight slowly starts to increase again.

They sleep in the nesting boxes no matter what we have tried to deter or block from them.

Really need to see your coop and layout to help address this. Without photos my guess is your nest boxes are too high and/or your roosts are not to their liking.

 

[The Good Grumble]

I have 2 pullets that are 30 weeks that aren’t laying, and two that are 24 weeks and started laying at 18 weeks. Days are shorter, less sun, it’s cold and snowy. At this point probably spring before they lay. But if they aren’t keep them on grower / starter or all flock and offer oyster shells. I notice that mine started eating the shells right before laying.

 

[Mrs. K]

By March you will have eggs. Maybe before that. Worrying won’t help, but we have all been there.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Sooner or later, they have to ovulate. They probably need longer days, more sunlight. And worrying won't have any effect on that. Take a number, the rest of us are waiting for longer days as well.