Is it true that if your spring chicks havent started laying, they wont lay till next year?

[AlicesSilkies]

Hey byc gang!!

I have 9 little chicken children they have just turned 18weeks, and ....NO EGGS....
Someone told me that if they havent started laying yet, they wont lay till next year because the nights are drawing in.
Is it true??

Thanks guys!!

 

[chickenlickin8]

Hey byc gang!!

I have 9 little chicken children they have just turned 18weeks, and ....NO EGGS....
Someone told me that if they havent started laying yet, they wont lay till next year because the nights are drawing in.
Is it true??

Thanks guys!!

Mine were born 03/16/12 and they are all laying now. It just depends on the chickens. Some lay early and some wait longer. They will lay soon. 18 weeks is still early but could happen anytime.....finger crossed

What breed are they? Silkies?

 

[AlicesSilkies]

ive got all different, polish, pekin, cukoo maran, orpington etc..
Oh and they are all bantams...

 

[DianaMallory]

Try adding a light in the coop that comes in the morning. Here I would have to have it come on at 6:00 am. I read if you add a light by a timer it should come on in the morning rather than at night because the light comes on and they will be able still see by sunlight when the light goes off. If you do it at night the light shuts off and leaves the chickens in darkness, trying to find the roost. We have had some really cool nights here in Ohio and my eggs have increased in amount.I got 11 eggs out of 11 golden comets yesterday. My girls are 5 months old now. Some of them started laying at 15 weeks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are dealing with living animals so the word "never" does not apply. You are also dealing with individual animals so about anything can happen. Chickens or breeds may have tendencies but a lot don't read the book. Many individuals do their own thing despite what the book says.

I don't have bantams and I don't know when your breeds of bantams would "normally" start to lay. 18 weeks does sound pretty young for that even with full sized dual purpose fowl. Even in spring or summer, I would not expect yours to lay for another month, but that can vary a lot for each individual.

It is fairly normal for pullets that start laying in the late summer or fall skip the molt their first winter and keep laying until the following fall. It's really unusual for older hens to skip the molt when the days get shorter. It's the days getting shorter that triggers the molt, not the length of days, by the way.

Last year I had some mixed breed full sized pullets reach laying age in early December. About half started laying just before the winter solstice, during the shortest days of the year and while the days were still getting shorter. That's the age my flock usually starts to lay if they reach laying age in summer. The others were all laying by February. I do think some delayed laying because of the short days-long nights but it did not phase some of them. I don't use lights to extend the day.

From my experience, no it is not true that they absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, forever and forever, always and always, anywhere in the northern hemisphere won't lay until next year if they haven't started by now. It is possible they won't lay until next year and the days getting shorter may affect them, but it is also very possible you will get some eggs by Halloween. Even in the middle of summer it is possible some won't lay until they are 9 or 10 months old or even older.

 

[7L Farm]

An answer I've always accepted was they will lay when they lay.There's to many factors that affect the girls laying ability's in my mind. Here's some things that are repetitively discussed to hot,days are shorter,something must of scared them,change,too cold,cloudy outside, & on & on. So, like I said they will lay when they lay. I just go with that & thank them when they do lay.
Some people try to force them to lay I personally don't. They add lights to keep their birds laying at full force. Does it work seems it helps but I really couldn't tell you because I don't use lights.
I think if you want eggs all year long you need different aged flocks which normally means more coops etc. This way you will always have pullets that will normally keep laying through out their first year while the other flocks might quit laying because their molting.
Then you will eventually end up culling a flock due to age & their lack of laying. Then you repeat as necessary. Its a big cycle.