Nine-Month-Old Pullets Still Not Laying

[iwiw60]

Feed Layena and add lighting to the coop and run...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/922732/adding-lights-to-the-coop-and-run-what-i-did

This is from the "LIVE CHAT" with Purina a week or 2 ago....

DrMikelleRoeder

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Are you providing at least 16 hours of light per day? Without it, they will not lay.

Not having 16 hours of light per day does not necessarily mean you will not get any eggs. Here in Central Oregon we currently have daylight from around 7:30 a.m. til 4:30 p.m. ... that's 9 hours a day, and out of my 4 BA girls I am still getting 2-3 eggs per day.

 

[Keileigh]

Feed Layena and add lighting to the coop and run... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/922732/adding-lights-to-the-coop-and-run-what-i-did This is from the "LIVE CHAT" with Purina a week or 2 ago.... DrMikelleRoeder

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Are you providing at least 16 hours of light per day? Without it, they will not lay.

No, I've never added light to the coop. I like to let them have a break as they need it, but we've always gotten plenty of eggs through the winter anyway, especially from new layers. I'm more confused by the fact that these girls should have started laying sometime in the summer and never did. Just really strange -- I would think it was some mysterious problem with my rooster or my incubation methods, but the feed store chicks weren't subject to either of those factors.

 

[vintagegem]

I hatched eggs from my own chickens for the first time this year. They were all sired by my EE roo and out of EE, Cuckoo Marans, White Leghorn, and Golden Comet hens. They hatched on February 9, and I bought a few more pullets (SLW, GLW, EE, and Australorp) from the local feed store the next day to fill out the ranks.

Normally, I buy chicks in mid-March or April, and they're laying by August or September, but nine months later, I haven't seen an egg out of any of these girls. My older hens are molting, and I had been counting on the fact that the new ones should be laying by now. They were housed separately till very recently, so I knew that only the older girls were laying (prior to molting).

I'm checking the nests many times a day, but have yet to find an egg, a pullet in a nest, or any sign that an egg was laid and eaten. They were on grower/finisher till about 6 months of age, and now they're eating regular 16% layer ration (and lots of it, of course!).

I expected the EEs and EE crosses to start a little later, but even for them, 41 weeks seems like a long time, and it's ridiculously long for the breeds from the feed store. I've just never had a situation like this in many years of keeping chickens, and right now I'm tempted to cull them all and start fresh in the spring rather than pay to feed them through the winter with no return.

Any thoughts on what I might be able to do to get them going? Or should I cut my losses and start with a new flock next year?

I'm in the same position.....got my birds in May at around 10 weeks of age and so far not a single egg

...I was going to process them but decided to give them till Spring and see what happens. I'm so disappointed as its my first ever flock and I've waited so long to get chickens.

 

[Keileigh]

I'm in the same position.....got my birds in May at around 10 weeks of age and so far not a single egg ...I was going to process them but decided to give them till Spring and see what happens. I'm so disappointed as its my first ever flock and I've  waited so long to get chickens.

Don't get discouraged! This is NOT typical -- I've raised chicks since I was a child and have never dealt with a problem like this before. Have you tried changing your feed? I'm kind of pinning my hopes on that right now!

 

[vintagegem]

Don't get discouraged! This is NOT typical -- I've raised chicks since I was a child and have never dealt with a problem like this before. Have you tried changing your feed? I'm kind of pinning my hopes on that right now!

I would certainly change their food if it would help....what would you recommend? they are on Layena at the moment

 

[DaveOmak]

Not having 16 hours of light per day does not necessarily mean you will not get any eggs. Here in Central Oregon we currently have daylight from around 7:30 a.m. til 4:30 p.m. ... that's 9 hours a day, and out of my 4 BA girls I am still getting 2-3 eggs per day.

Sooo, are you saying she shouldn't need to add lights because your chickens are laying 2-3 eggs per day... Maybe her chickens need light to lay eggs....

That wasn't my post..... DrMikelleRoeder whom works for purina.... posted that comment..... DOCTOR Mikelle Roeder

 

[enola]

Adding additional light will certainly not hurt anything.

 

[iwiw60]

Sooo, are you saying she shouldn't need to add lights because your chickens are laying 2-3 eggs per day... Maybe her chickens need light to lay eggs....

That wasn't my post..... DrMikelleRoeder whom works for purina.... posted that comment..... DOCTOR Mikelle Roeder

Quote:

Not having 16 hours of light per day does not necessarily mean you will not get any eggs. Here in Central Oregon we currently have daylight from around 7:30 a.m. til 4:30 p.m. ... that's 9 hours a day, and out of my 4 BA girls I am still getting 2-3 eggs per day.

Nooo, what I said was "...not having 16 hours of light per day does not necessarily mean you will not get any eggs."

 

[Keileigh]

I would certainly change their food if it would help....what would you recommend? they are on Layena at the moment

I know some people swear by Layena and get great results with it. I've switched to it twice in the past on the recommendation of friends, and both times I've seen a drastic drop in production and switched off of it again a couple of months later. Not saying it's not a good feed, because I know it works wonderfully for some. But if it's all you've been using, it's worth trying something different.

Also, if your schedule allows and you aren't doing this already, try to check the boxes every hour or so. I had a small flock of Barred Rocks several years ago that I thought weren't laying yet, and it turned out they were laying wonderfully and eating the eggs before I found them!

 

[enola]

Roll away nests will stop egg eating.