No eggs...

[nbeucler]

Hello
We recently built and purchased a few hens to start our own backyard flock. 2 of the hens are older, one is a 2 year old buff Orpington and the other is a 1 year old lavender Orpington. We have had them for 2 weeks now and are not getting eggs. They are being fed a laying ration mash, have access to grit and oyster shells, have nest boxes, get access to outside all day. Some things working against us - heat! It’s been in the 90’s for the past 2 weeks. Also the stress of bringing them into a new home. Would those two things stop them from laying?
Would having younger chickens around stop them?
would the fact that they were show birds be an issue?
Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[azygous]

Watch. Now that you've expressed your concern here, those hens will produce eggs tomorrow.

It does require a bit of settling into new surroundings before the stress of a change of environment subsides. Two weeks is not an overly long adjustment period.

 

[nbeucler]

Thanks for the fast response! I kind of thought it would take a while, but needed to hear someone else say it. Hopefully they settle in soon!

 

[Whigru]

We borrowed a hen from a friend and brought her into our flock earlier this year to keep our lone hen company while we raised chicks (we actually traded a very loud RIR to them and just used this one for company). We had this hen for a month and she never laid. Apparently she was a consistent and almost daily layer at her other home but here, she seemed stressed and frazzled and completely flighty. Now, I realized after the fact that borrowing a random bird and trying to throw her into my existing flock of one was a bad idea and I could have done it differently, but that’s another story... My point is, it may take a while but hopefully they will start up soon!

 

[nbeucler]

Bummer! We came home with 6 chickens, the 2 older hens mentioned above, 2 March hatched hens, and 2 march hatched bantam cochin hens. I'm sure they are all still trying to figure out each other and the pecking order. Hopefully things start to settle soon. They aren't super flighty, which I'm happy about. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Alaskan]

Also... that heat will keep many chickens from laying.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Both heat and moving to a new home are stressful and will throw off egg laying.

 

[Shezadandy]

Whatever you can do to keep the nest boxes comfortable - when we get hot weather around here I've got fans that I blow into the nest boxes.

Also you could check their vents to see if anyone appears to be laying … they may have chosen their own nest somewhere … not sure what your setup is, but corners under things are popular, as are hay bales, bushes and any other number of classic hen nest hiding spots.