New to raising chickens, PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[iiisgmiii]

I bought 7 rhode island reds one month ago. The day after I brought them home I walk out to the coop to find an egg on the floor. 2 days later I find another egg in the nest box. Since then I have not gotten any eggs from my hens. I have a light in the coop so that they get some extra light also. They are on 16% layer feed and I feel a very small amount(1 cup) of scratch to them every morning. They don't free range so egg hiding isn't an option.

Any suggestions??

 

[Percheron chick]

The initial interruption can be blamed on the stress from moving. The eggs they produced were already in production. The continued lack of eggs is probably a result of the time of year, starting to molt, change in diet, age... They'll come around. What do you know about them?

 

[iiisgmiii]

I bought 15 from the same guy. My neighbor took 8 I took 7. There were 4 that are probably a year old and the rest are all good sized pullets. My neighbor is getting 5-6 eggs per day and Im getting 0. She took 1 of the older ones and I took 3. However, she is also getting pullet eggs.

 

[aart]

How is your 'light in the coop' set for timing?

Sometimes first year layers will lay all winter without supplemental lighting, sometimes they won't.
Older layers need 14-16 hours of light to lay regularly thru winter. Last winter I used a 40 watt incandescent light(this year I am using a CFL) that comes on early in the morning to provide 14-15 hours of light and they go to roost with the natural sundown. Last year I started the lighting increase a bit late(mid October), the light should be increased slowly, and the pullets didn't start laying until late December. Here's pretty good article on supplemental lighting. Some folks think that using lighting shortens the years a hen will lay, I don't agree with that theory but I also plan to cull my older hens for soup at about 3 years old.

 

[iiisgmiii]

My light is one of the curly light bulbs and I have it set to come on at 5 pm amd go off at 10 pm. This gives them roughly 15-16 hours of light

 

[Folly's place]

You will want that light to go on at 4 or 5 am, and go off at about 8 am. That stretches out daylight hours, and allows for normal bedtime behaviors. Suddenly turning out the lights in the evening strands them off the roosts and is much more stressful. New birds in a new environment need time to adjust, and may take some time to resume egg production. Welcome! Mary