Karen1958
In the Brooder
5 months old, no egg yet. I have been feeding them 18% protein layer feed at recommendation. Is that to high protein & could that be playing a role to no eggs as of yet?
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5 months old, no egg yet. I have been feeding them 18% protein layer feed at recommendation. Is that to high protein & could that be playing a role to no eggs as of yet?
Agreed. My white leghorn that was supposed to lay at 16 weeks is just thinking about starting at 22. My BR all from same place started at 20, 22, and 24 weeks. And my BO that was supposed to mature later has started at 22 weeks.Depending on the breed and considering the time of year, days getting shorter so less light, it's probably too early at this point. While I have had some birds start before 4.5 months, they were from an early laying line and hit that age around the middle of June when days were longest. Some others related to that line started laying at five months even though it was November. The vast majority seem to start exactly at six months while I've had a few purchased birds wait until the days started getting longer and they were 7 - 8 months.
I have some 4.5 months old now and I'm really anxious, but their combs haven't turned red yet so I know they're not ready.
I don't start layer food until they start laying,(Don't want them overloading on calcium) but I don't think your food has anything to do with it. I think it is age and time of year.
In closing, your feed is not changing the time with witch they will lay. Who made the recommendation for 18% layer? I suspect breeds that are not good winter layers won't be starting up this late. But all chickens regardless of breed are individuals and will function as such no matter what may be typical for the breed. Also, welcome to BYC!5 months old, no egg yet. I have been feeding them 18% protein layer feed at recommendation. Is that to high protein & could that be playing a role to no eggs as of yet?
Congrats!I finally got my first eggs this week. So excited & my ladies get excited when they lay.
So now I'm having a problem with then using the nesting boxes. They layed them in the cleaned straw between the 2 roosting bars. Cleaned out the coop yesterday to hopefully remove their egg smell from that area hoping they will move to the nest box. Any suggestions?