Not getting any eggs!!! :-(

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almondjoy1972

almondjoy1972

In the Brooder
7 Years
Apr 13, 2012
11
0
22
Hi everyone! This is my 1st time here and I am looking forward to getting as much help as possible. I am new to the chicken raising so I have a few questions......First, I bought 4 Red Sex Links last Saturday, the 7th. The guy told me these girls were 8-10 months old and laying daily. Well, tomorrow it will be a week and I have only gotten 1 egg total from the 4 hens!! I am wondering if he may have fibbed and the girls are actually older than what he says. Is there any way to tell how old a chicken is and does anyone know at what age a hen will stop laying? I know sometimes it takes them a few days to adjust, but they seem really happy with their new home, they just aren't producing any eggs! Thanks for you help!
 
Hi and :welcome from Ohio. So glad you joined. You can usually tell by the hen's eyes. They aren't as big and bright as they were as they were when younger. Are you feeding them the same feed as they were on before? Some birds just take more time to adjust than others. :thumbsup
 
almondjoy1972 said:
Hi everyone! This is my 1st time here and I am looking forward to getting as much help as possible. I am new to the chicken raising so I have a few questions......First, I bought 4 Red Sex Links last Saturday, the 7th. The guy told me these girls were 8-10 months old and laying daily. Well, tomorrow it will be a week and I have only gotten 1 egg total from the 4 hens!! I am wondering if he may have fibbed and the girls are actually older than what he says. Is there any way to tell how old a chicken is and does anyone know at what age a hen will stop laying? I know sometimes it takes them a few days to adjust, but they seem really happy with their new home, they just aren't producing any eggs! Thanks for you help!
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Hi,

It has taken as long as a month for some of my new hens to settle down and lay. If they are not doing anything after a month, I would say that you got "took". Remember, like a watched pot, a watched hen never lays. LOL
 
I purchased them from a Flock Swap and the guy didn't offer any information on what he was feeding them. My husband said all they ever fed their chickens when he was growing up was scratch feed. Well after a lot of research, I found out that they require much more than scratch feed. We purchased some All Grain Layer/Breeder Pellets today. Also, we purchased 3 more hens from a different person on Tuesday. These girls are smaller than the previous 4 and we have already gotten 3 eggs from them! The first 4 aren't the best welcome society for the newly added trio. They have been pecking them and jumping on them so much that we had to separate the trio from the original 4. I understand the "pecking order" but my heart couldn't stand to watch the ugliness.....it made me sad.
 
Thank you for the warm welcome! I am happy to be here!
yippiechickie.gif
 
Thanks for the advice....We have been watching them like a hawk! LOL!!! I thought all was good when we got the 1st egg on the second day of having them but no more eggs from this group since the second day! Hopefully they will lay soon!
 
Awww I know what you mean! I hate it when they are mean to each other. Keep reading up on it, there are many folks here who have gone through the same thing and may have good ideas for you. Have you thought of adding a roo? They'll usually put the ladies in place if the squabbling gets out of hand.

On the no egg thing, how is their comb color? Bright red? When they"re not feeling well they could have worms or be sick, egg production can drop off and comb color gets washed out.

Also, are you housing them so that they" ll lay in one spot? If they are out and about, could be that you need to go on an egg hunt.
 
Thanks for the info! We have talked about adding a rooster at some point, just not yet...the combs of the 4 that aren't laying are a very healthy, bright red. We haven't let them go free range yet. We wanted to be sure they knew where to go when it was time to roost. They are in a fenced in area right now with a nice little chicken house to nest in. We have 4 nesting boxes for them in the chicken house. They will go and lay in the nest, but so far only 1 egg has been produced in a weeks time between the 4 of them.
 

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