What most new chicken owners do not understand is that the 18 - 22 week age of laying is primarily based on a production laying hen. Most chickens often fail to read their instruction manual and choose not to lay that early. Large breeds take even longer. I have had some take 32+ weeks before their first eggs. Shortened daylight, lack of substantial proteins (chickens are omnivores - vegetarian diets are not the best means of nutrition for them), and their own natural cycles make it nearly impossible to predict the onset of egg laying. The larger breeds spend more energy building body structure and size than producing eggs at an early age. The average eggs per year for many chickens is around 240 - 265 eggs in a year. That leaves a lot of down time for rejunivation and rest of the reproductive systems. Chickens are not little biological machines that spit out one egg a day from 18 weeks until they giev out. Be patient. Don't put your backyard hens in the same playing feild as a production layer and don't make your selves look like commercial producers who want only some eggs at whatever cost to the birds.
