No eggs in summer

[Winchester94]

Hey yall, it's very hot here in Texas as expected and it's definitely affected my hens. They are all 21-25 weeks and we havnt had one egg yet. I'm sure this question has been asked before but is there anything I can do to encourage egg laying during these hot days? Should I be concerned or is this pretty normal? This is my first flock so I'm definitely a rookie. Thanks yall

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

What breed(s) do you have? The heat will probably delay laying, but your pullets are a little in the young side or around the laying age. I'd expect eggs pretty soon.

 

[Winchester94]

I have buffs, lavender ameraucanas, cuckoo marans, and Rhode Island's

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Real Ameraucanas can be slow to mature. So those might take longer...I'd expect the others to lay sooner, other than the Marans. Those could take a little longer too.

What are their combs and vents looking like? Big red combs? Pink, moist vents? If so, I'd expect eggs pretty soon.

 

[Winchester94]

The buffs and Rhode Island's definitely have big red combs but as expected the ameraucanas and marans are still working on theirs

 

[junebuggena]

What are you feeding?

 

[Winchester94]

They are still on grower. Should I be giving them layer feed or wait till I see the first egg?

 

[junebuggena]

What's the protein content? Layer feed is for actively laying birds only.

 

[aart]

Are you free ranging them?
Have they shown any interest in the nests?
They usually scratch around in them as they get near to laying.

Could always do an exam.
Vent Appearance:
Dry, tight, and smaller - usually not laying.
Moist, wide, and larger - usually laying.

Pelvic Points, feel for the 2 bony points(pelvic bones F-F) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.
(Spacing is relative with chickens size and humans finger size.)

 

[Winchester94]

They are in a large open too pen about 15ftx45ft and coop with laying boxes. I have not seen them show much interest but the hay inside does seem to be moved around sometimes. I put a fake egg in the boxes to give them a hint.