New Layer Question

Tips? Thanks

Hi, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined us.

How many and what breeds? Also, where are you? It might help to have an idea how long your days are and how cold you are. Do they have any artificial lighting or are you dependent on the sun for light? Are you north or south of the equator? I'll assume north but if you are south a lot of what I'm going to say will not apply to you.

There is nothing in Layer feed that will start them laying. Layer is designed to support them when they start laying, not get them started. Don't pin any hopes on that.

There are a lot of different things that influence when a pullet starts to lay. Heredity plays a part. Some breeds or crosses tend to start laying earlier than others. Production breeds or the commercial hybrids tend to start laying earlier than the decorative breeds. I'm using the word "tend" on purpose. Each chicken is an individual. Even of the same breed or cross some individuals will start laying a lot earlier than their sisters. You have to have enough for trends to mean something. Individuals can vary by months. I've had individuals start laying at 16 weeks. Others did not start until 9 months. Both are unusual but both happen.

Length of days has an impact on when they lay in different ways. One of the triggers for them to release an egg yolk to start making an egg is daylight. There are other triggers too, not just light. Some people mistakenly think there is a minimum number of hours of light for them to lay. That's not correct. I'v had plenty of hens lay through the winter when days are as short as 10 hours. These were production breeds. The longer the daylight the more they can eat and digest so they will get more nutrients. The colder the weather the more they need to use nutrients to keep warm so there are less nutrients available to make eggs. You can expect a reduction in winter, but that doesn't mean they don't lay at all. Production breeds are more likely to lay in the shorter days than the decorative breeds but any of them could lay at any time.

Are yours molting? Often pullets skip the molt their first fall/winter but often does not mean each and every time. The stress of moving may have triggered a molt. If you are seeing extra feathers floating around then it is likely a molt.

I've had pullets start to lay in the first week of December, about the shortest days of the year. These were the 9 month olds I mentioned above. These were the only colored egg layers I had so it was pretty obvious when the eggs started showing up. Two of them started laying about the same time, the third waited another couple of months. These were not a production breed either. They broke all the rules, which shows the rules aren't really rules, just tendencies. What's even more surprising their daughters started laying at 5 months so it wasn't just heredity.

The bottom line is that they will lay when they lay. There is nothing magical that you can feed them to get them started. If you are north of the equator and the days are getting pretty short you could add artificial light to make them think the days are getting longer so maybe they will start, that can be effective. But if you stop the artificial light so they then think days are getting shorter you might kick them into a molt. I don't add artificial light but some do quite successfully.

Before they start to lay their body has to undergo changes, mainly to internal plumbing. If they are not laying the egg-making plumbing is pretty dried up. They also have to grow egg yolks from tiny ova to yolk size. This can take time. So if you do add lights do not expect immediate results, it could take a few weeks.

I understand the frustration, I really wanted those colored eggs. But sometime it's a matter of patience.
 

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