never buying ready to lay again!

If they have been raised inside it might take a while you for them to go outside. I have never bough starter birds from a hatchery. Just private people the last 2 I got the guy had them in a dark barn with their becks cut. It took them a while to get the idea of free ranging but now they loved it just like my other girls. I hope your pullets come around just might take some time. Maybe taking some treats like meal worms or something out might help. Good Luck.

 

What breed are they? Some breeds just aren't that social to begin with, but it does help if they were raised "right" and were socialized around people.

 

If you have only had them 2 weeks they shouldn't be integrated yet, you should quarantine a minimum of 30 days . I would be concerned about illness if they are sleeping all the time....

 

Quote:If they were raised in a commercial environment, then they were probably living in battery cages indoors in goodness knows WHAT condition. Do a few web searches on battery hens--if an industry has that standard of care for the laying hen, then there's no telling what the standard of care would be for a hen to be sold off.

However, the demand is for cheap food and cheap eggs, so commercial hens are merely egg-laying machines and will be given the minimum to keep them alive and laying.

They've probably never seen the sun before, nor have they ever felt dirt under their feet, nor seen a blade of grass.

They may come around, but you're better off in the future buying a few laying hens from someone who has too many and raises them under typical backyard henhouse conditions--living like real chickens. Someone who like me, is being BURIED ALIVE IN EGGS!

 

One hen i got as a rescue didnt lay for almost 2 mos even though she was laying when we picked her up.

 

We live around alot of Tyson chicken barns and we visited one a few times because the person that was overseeing the place would give out free eggs and they where nearly all double yolkers. Anyway, their birds are kept in a long barn. They have airconditioning and heat depending on the weather. Constant 24/7 food and fresh water supply. The nest boxes are lined up in the middle with a conveyer belt that the overseer turns on a couple times a day to collect and clean off the eggs. The chickens themselves are loose, not in cages but they are wing to wing packed in there. After they are a certain age they are all collected up and taken to the plan for processing. The overseer has to go in once a day ald remove any dead birds and they aren't allowed to dispose of the dead bodies. They have to put them in an area so they can be counted by somebody else to prove thy haven't been selling the birds. After the birds are removed and taken to processing the barn is cleaned up and a new stock is brought in.

The eggs that get collected are sorted by size and put in a large walk in fridge. The double yolkers to to the places like Dunkin Hynes (sp) to be processed how ever they do it to use in theirdry batter for cakes and such. One time an overseer gave my grandson a hen and she lived for a few months till she got eggbound and died. At the time I knew nothing about chickens and didn't know what was wrong with her. She was near death and DH just put her out of her misery. She would have been processed before she got eggbound because she was so big by then she had a hard time walking. I don't know what they feed them but if they aren't processed at a certain age they just keep getting bigger and bigger till they cna't hold up their own weight. That happened too. They hold a show every year at the fair and the kids raise their chickens from chicks and they choose 3 to take to the show and they get awards and prize money. Then there is an auction held right after and all birds brought are auctioned off but don't go to the bidders. They go to the local procesing plant that processes different kinds of meat for different purposes. Mostly dog food. We participated once and after we found out what they do with the chickens form the show we haven't done it again.

We did keep the remaining chickens and let a few grow to get bigger and had planned to have one for our thanksgiving dinner but it had gotten so big it couldn't walk and the other chickens attacked it. So we don't participate in their show anymore. We would rather have chickens for their eggs. Not grow them to live a short life and die. But thats just us. It's not like we don't buy chicken at the store.

Sorry long story.

 

Ready to lay pullets that you buy from hatcheries are NOT kept in battery cages....

They ARE raised on the ground though in barns. Some of them get sold to people for backyard flocks and some go to egg indrustries. I personally think its great that hatcheries offer 'point of lay' pullets. Alot of people don't want to wait around for weeks and go through the chick stage, they just really want fresh eggs. These birds are perfect for that. Your pullets will come around soon, I've bought a few red sex link pullets and it takes them awhile to get used to everything. Sit them out in the grass and give them a few treats, they'll come around. If you really want them to perk up throw out some mealworms! lol. How old are your pullets? they normally begin to lay around 18-20 weeks, so if they were sent to you any younger they may take a few more weeks. Moving into new surroundings can really stress birds out too and make them take longer to lay.

Just be patient and don't give up on them! they will come around soon and start giving an egg a day!