Lack of Eggs

[Sammysam1164]

Hi all! I got my first flock of girls at the end of May. One of my girls started laying at around 18 weeks. I know that egg production slows down around this time, especially with the days getting shorter. But, none of my other girls have started to produce and they are now 21 weeks old. Each girl is a different breed. The Rhode Island Red is the one that is laying. Any tips?? Thanks!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I could go into a long detailed discussion of why this and why not that. This might happen or that might happen. The bottom line is that you might get another egg in the next few days or you might not get another egg until the longer days of spring if you do nothing. Each chicken is an individual and we all have our own circumstances.

I don't know how any other pullets you have or what breeds they are. If I had 10 pullets from our standard dual purpose breeds from hatcheries in the late summer when days are not getting shorter I would expect one or two to be laying by 20 weeks of age. Maybe half laying around 23 to 24 weeks. Most should be laying by 27 weeks. But I've had some wait 9 months before they start laying. You just don't know.

If eggs now is that critical to you, the only thing I know for you to do is to make them think it is spring. The days are still getting shorter with sunrise being later every day and sunset earlier. Using a timer on your lights stop the days from getting shorter. You can set your timer to come on early in the morning, go out later in the evening, or at fixed times in the morning and evening. Remember the days are getting shorter at both ends so you will need to adjust your timer settings to account for that if you only do it at one end.

I'd suggest extending the light by 10 to 15 minutes every 3 to 4 days to make them think the days are getting longer but I'd stop adjusting it after a month or so. That should be enough. Do not expect instant results. It takes them a while to adjust their internal plumbing to switch from not laying to laying. You may see an instant response but that just means they were getting ready to lay anyway.

If you stop adding light before the natural day is the length of the daylight equals you artificial length, you can trick them into thinking it is fall and they will molt. So whatever length of day you settle on make sure natural light equals or exceeds that before you stop adding light.