My cream legbars arn't laying yet am i doing something wrong??

[craigcarter79]

Hi im a newby to chicken keeping, we've got 3 cream legbars and a buff sussex they are 24-26 weeks old they aint layed a single egg yet im just worried im doing something wrong, we feed them on pellets in the feeder i throw in corn every afternoon to get them scratching and we also buy them treats which are bell shaped and they demolish them, fresh water daily made them a dust bath which they just bloody sit in. Im just still worried we may not be doing something we should be. Can anyone help!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It's the time of year. Shorter days delay them. You could add a timer and light to gradually lengthen the day or just wait it out.
If you wait it out they really shouldn't be getting layer pellets until you get the first egg. Put them back on grower or they can acquire kidney problems. Birds with kidney issues may not lay well.

 

[craigcarter79]

Thank you, when we brought all the feed we went to our local farm supplier and asked her which was best for us and she gave us a choice of pellets we went the slightly more expensive range but would they have been layer or grower pellets we had the chickens off someone she recomended so i think she would of known that they we young birds! how do i tell? Ive thrown the bag away as ive git in a big storage bucket.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Cream Legbars take quite a while to start laying. Mine was just shy of 7 months old when she started laying.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You can't tell unless you read the label. Layer feed is about 4% calcium and grower is about 1%. Layer will be 16 or 17% protein and grower will be anywhere from 18 to 22 or more.
Reading the guaranteed analysis and ingredient list (on all feed bags) will tell other things like the source of protein (vegetable or animal). I cut that label off of each type of feed and keep for future reference. I also label the bucket it goes into with a dry erase marker with the feed type (protein percentage and whether it's layer or grower)
I keep 17 and 20% layer and 15, 16 organic, 18, 22 and 27 % grower, as well as fishmeal and a 36% poultry concentrate - so if I don't label I won't know what I'm feeding.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t have Legbars but I have had Sussex. In general, I’ve had pullets of different breeds and just plain old barnyard mix start to lay at 16 weeks. I’ve had some take a full year, hatch in March and not lay until March the following year. Some of the pullets in that March hatch started laying after 9 months in the first week of December, the shortest days of the year. There is nothing consistent about them.

Lots of different things affect when they start to lay, heredity, lighting, and diet just for starters. Each chicken is an individual. Even full sisters hatched and raised together subjected to th esame diet and lighting can have a wide range of when they start to lay. There are averages and trends, but frankly with only 4 pullets, you don’t have enough chickens for the averages to mean a whole lot. They will lay when they lay. Could be today. Could be March.

 

[craigcarter79]

I want to thank everyone for the replies and putting my mind at ease. As a first timer i was just worried because i've had people telling me that they should be laying.

Thank you.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Theoretically they should be laying but at this time of year, unless one has good control on day length, it's anybody's guess.

 

[craigcarter79]

Thank you,

Im glad i joined the forum its been a big help.