My hens are over 6 months old & are not laying!

[Poliwag]

I have 3, 184 day old hens (that's 26 weeks or 6.5 months) and they have not layed any eggs.
They are silkie bantams. 2 pure whites and 1 ginger.
I got them as babies.
The age I have written above is from the day I got them.
They were around about 5-10 days old when I got them.

The pictures are quite old but they haven't changed much. In the pictures they are 3 and a half months old.

They have hay to lay in and I made some nests and put a couple of polyester eggs in them.

Big rats come into the coop at night to eat their feed but I highly doubt they are eatting the eggs as it would be impossible to drag them out of the coop without breaking them. I also haven't seen any broken eggs.

Can anyone tell me what could be wrong? Dx

 

[canada-goose]

They might not be ready to lay yet. It might be good to do something about the rats though.

 

[Poliwag]

Quote:
I am trying to get a Ratzapper but I am having trouble getting it where I live

 

[Minniechickmama]

Defeinitely get rid of the rats, the sooner the better. Can you seal off their entries with hardware cloth? And don't underestimate what a rat can do. It is possible that they are stealing eggs, and I understand your thoughts on them not getting them away without leaving a mess, but it has been known to happen that they can lick it clean, in a literal sense here. Otherwise, Mother Nature may have plans for late arrival for you eggs.
Good luck.

 

[GrammieAnn]

I, too, have six month old chickens that aren't laying. Two of the birds of different breeds but about the same age have been laying for over a month. The buff orps and silver laced wyandottes are not.

I also have one bird (dubbed "drumstick") by my husband when they were chicks which is very large and quite beautiful. It has started some weak crowing in the last couple of weeks but has never done so before. There is no sexual behaviors that I have noticed. According to my chicken bible, it should be apparent around 8 weeks of age if you have a cockerel. Could this bird actually be a rooster as my husband claims or just a confused and late laying hen?

 

[Minniechickmama]

post a picture and let's see what you have?

 

[Cetawin]

Many things affect laying... molting, the cooler weather, the hot weather, stress and so forth. If there are rats coming in to eat their food, that would stress them out. Get rid of those rats or their access Fast! Rats will kill chickens especially young ones or bantams.

 

[GrammieAnn]

It's official! The SLW is a rooster, according to a local chicken guru. I have arranged a swap for a pullet with her. Also two of my non-laying orps are roosters as well. The other one was in the nest this morning. Thanks to all on this site for the help given newbies in the chicken raising sector.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Silkies tend to be late bloomers in my experience.

 

[txchickie]

Yes....late bloomers

I have 7 month old silkies that aren't laying

They will be 8 months soon and I'm beginning to think it will be spring before I see an egg