I'm glad to know there are still honest folks in the world

[J.Pryce]

I have 30 hens. I purchased them beginning this Spring. I bought 3 White Leghorns, an Isa Brown, & 2 Silver Wyandotte from the Duck n Coup farm. Was told they are laying & they came home & I got eggs right away. I decided to add to my flock & purchased 6 Barred Rocks from a farm who stated they have just started laying- This was a month ago, Nothing Yet. I added 6 EE's from another farm- they are laying-Nothing, I purchased 3 Marans- They're laying- Nothing. I just last week added 9 more Isa's from a farm in Howell- They are laying- They are!!!. Sure makes you feel good when someone is truly honest with you. On these non-layers I drove as far as 3 hours for some of them. I've been feeding these dadgum non-layers for months now, hopefully they'll give me something before Spring. AAAARRGGGHH

 

[suzettex5]

You are SOOOO not alone!!! This same thing has happened to me quite a few times. (i have stopped adding any new chickens to my flock- just raising my own and hatching eggs)

One time, I got an EE that WAS laying, but turns out she was older than told, and she stopped laying completely months ago. I just dont have the heart to get rid of her, so she free loads. Also got about 12 different hens from various places, all were "laying", except 2 were 'due' to lay in a month. Well, so far, 3 and a half months later...NO eggs. I know a few of them were in molt when I got'em, but c'mon, NONE of them are laying? Not to mention, the chicks I bought in April are still not laying. Sure they could have a secret nest, but I swear we have looked EVERYWHERE! Unless they build nests in trees, I cant find any eggs from any of them to save my life!!

I hear your frustration, its just not right to have people tell you they are laying if they arent. It DOES cost you money to feed them until they lay. I know it can take awhile for hens to get used to a new place, but more than a month is not reasonable in my opinion.

I hope your other girls start laying TODAY, and I'm glad you found an honest seller at last!

 

[HHandbasket]

I can empathize with all of you. We got our birds May 29th and was told they were between 3 and 4 months old except for the "pure ameraucana" (really an EE but that's another story) and that they would be laying by mid August, maaaybe as late as early September for the younger one (the welsummer), the "ameraucana" maybe as early as July as she was a month older than the rest (which was obvious--she was way more developed and about twice as big as the rest of them).

The chickens turned out to be more like 6 weeks old, though I would have sworn they were older as they were all fully feathered and living outside. Only the wellie had just the tiniest amount of finer down feathering still on her head, and we knew right away by how she looked that she was younger than the rest. (She's been a sickly li'l bird, too... poor thing, but we love her so she's still here LOL.) Even so, these chickens hatched sometime in April. They are a BR, a RIR, and the wellie. They don't even have combs/wattles yet. The BR makes the egg song all day, has for the last 4-5 days, but isn't squatting yet and, as I said, doesn't even have a comb and wattles yet. This is November. We thought we'd have eggs from these particular birds in August or September. It's really frustrating when we are lied to about the ages of the birds.

Here's the thing: I would have paid the extra that it costs for older pullets and purchased the older birds if they had just been honest with me about the ages of the birds.

We picked up a pullet a few days ago that was reportedly hatched March 1st and has been laying light green eggs for about a month. We'll see if she resumes laying once she settles in here.

I don't get people who feel the need to be dishonest about their chooks. Makes no sense.

 

[speckledhen]

When you move a bird to a new environment, it will usually stop laying for a short while. This time of year most of my hens, my best layers, are not laying at all. Hopefully, that was the case with some of these birds and not a dishonest seller. Even if a hen isn't laying yet, you can bet she will eventually.

Learn the signs of an older hen, one that may be in her twilight years, and then no one will be able to sell you an elderly girl.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

Quote:

I've had Marans take 2 months to get back to laying. Most people will tell you that when they sell you the bird. Add some supplemental lighting to your coop to hurry things along.

 

[ChooksChick]

Another thing is to be sure you have appropriate nutrition for them to lay. Some birds will still lay a bit even when on a diet of mostly scratch, others won't even consider it. Your diet needs to be at least 16% protein layer feed if you want layers.

 

[J.Pryce]

I have a light, they are on Layena, & My other gals produced 58 eggs this week. I know they are younger than a year old, & have been in their new enviroment 4 to 6 weeks. The new Isa's I added layed the 1st day they were here & haven't missed a beat. Maybe Barred Rocks, EE's & Marans just aren't as productive as Leghorns & Isa Browns

 

[Rozzie]

J.Pryce :

I have a light, they are on Layena, & My other gals produced 58 eggs this week. I know they are younger than a year old, & have been in their new enviroment 4 to 6 weeks. The new Isa's I added layed the 1st day they were here & haven't missed a beat. Maybe Barred Rocks, EE's & Marans just aren't as productive as Leghorns & Isa Browns

How long is your light on each day? What are your temps there? Light is most important, but some birds will lay less in winter regardless of light - temps affect different types of birds (even different breeds of chickens) differently.

I'd up that light to 16 or even 18 hours a day for three or four weeks. See if that kicks their egg laying apparatus into gear. Also, make sure you are feeding a GOOD quality layer feed, provide extra calcium, and grit. If your girls free range or have a lot of supplemental feed provided then you'll need a higher protein food to compensate for that.​

 

[gritsar]

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[tuesdays chicks]

IDK maybe its the time of year too, I don't know really that much about all the different breeds, but aren't some better layers in the cold weather months then others anyway? could be the different nature of the birds, But my Buff Orp hen laid asa she hit our little flock with little to no stress, and she is still laying her average 5 eggs a week and on top of that she is in molt with about just under 12 hours of light, but my bantam brahma has slowed down but still laying an egg every other day.
in your case the shock of moving the birds and the shorter days might have kept them from starting up again.