I bought a bunch of chickens at an auction. Some lay and some won't.

[starck5]

So my first experinces with chicks didn't work out so well. One night something got in and killed all of them. So I went a little crazy at a small farm animal auction like July 3rd. I bought 2 Aruacana(sp?) 3 Bantam Columbian something or nothers, not quite sure, and I bought a lot of 6 ready to lay pullets, 3 white, 3 brown, and 3 black.

Ok, so right off the bat we got 2 green eggs and a couple of the bantam eggs. Then they stopped laying total for weeks. Eventually we started to get small white eggs, and I knew it was from my leghorns. That is it. We got like 2 eggs a day. Then one of the Aruacana? got sick and died and the next day the other one started laying every day. So now we have one green egg a day, roughly, and 3 white eggs a day. So I am sure that all three of my leghorns are laying eggs now. Which one lays a double yolk egg every time? Is that unusual?

What about the brown and black hens. Shouldn't they be laying now. The look the same size as the leghorns and they all came in the same box. It has been a month since the leghorns started laying. Is it weird or just me?

Thanks for your input
Sarah

 

[chiknlady]

Sorry about your run of bad luck. The ages of the pullets will matter...They could start as early as 16 weeks (rare) and wait as long as 8 months. If they are Hens( over a year old) they could be going through a molt in which case they will not lay for 4 months or more while they shed and grow feathers. Or could be that they are old and spent... Most farmers or chicken owners will typically not give up their best layers...Good luck with everything.

 

[miss_jayne]

they could also just be adjusting to their new home. stress will send them off into non-laying for awhile.

you'll know soon...