Please Respond - Chickens not laying yet

[cyw iar]

I'm in the same boat. Our six girls are 24 weeks old, nice red faces and combs, but no eggs yet. We gave them a temporary milk crate nest box and golf balls - someone's been in there mucking about with the golfballs, but no eggs there or anywhere else yet.

(I say temporary, because they're still temporarily living on the screened porch waiting for the henhaus to be finished).

 

[wastintime202]

I am in east Texas too..I set my timer for 4:00 am to 7:00 am. I only use it in the morning hours and my eggs have doubles since doing so. I have eight hens, three molting, and average 4 eggs a day since using the light.

 

[dreamcatcherarabians]

I've posted a couple of times to get advice and I don't get a lot of feedback here. I'm not experienced enough to answer many questions but I read through everything. So not sure if my lack of responses is because people are not familiar with my name or what. But I am desperately seeking answers. I have 18 hens and 1 rooster (he was an accident, thought I was getting another hen). Of all my birds 6 of them are older - as least 1 yr or older. I got the older hens in April. The remaining12 hens were hatched within a day or 2 of May 21. The older hens were all laying regularly until around August when they started molting and the TExas heat (I assumed) caused them to slow down laying. I recognize all their eggs. Only 2 of those 6 are laying now. About every other day. Of the young ones I've noticed 1 new colored egg, but not sure who it's from, but I get it about every other day. So from 18 girls I'm getting 2-3 eggs per day. Aren't they all old enough to lay now??

They were free ranging during the day, until the last few weeks. I've been keep them in the run and coop area in case they were laying elswhere, then I let them out to free range about an hour before sunset. I feed them veggie scraps, pasta, laying pellets, scratch. I thought by now since they are 27 weeks old I should be getting around a dozen eggs per day :/

Frustrated.....

I have 24 layers, 5 Cochins who lay when they feel like it, and 1 roo. I go through 4-5 50 lb bags of layer feed every month and I keep a bowl of oyster shell full that they can crunch free choice. I free range all day long on 10 acres, but in reality they probably only use about 2-3 acres. I don't feed scraps at all. I get right around 18 eggs per day, plus or minus a couple. I keep the light on til 9 pm, it comes on at 4:30 p.m. and off at 9 p.m., and they never miss a beat. They can be VERY tricky about finding places to hide eggs though, I've found them buried in the hay stack, in the hay feeders in the barn, under an upturned stock tank, you name there's no end to the creativity. My chicks will be 1 year old in Feb 2013, and they didn't really start laying consistently until late Sept or early Oct, so your youngsters could just be getting the internal stuff working right about now. If their wattles and combs are all bright read and if your yellow legged birds are still bright yellow, they probably haven't started laying yet. They'll start fading when they do.

 

[dquarles74]

I have 24 layers, 5 Cochins who lay when they feel like it, and 1 roo. I go through 4-5 50 lb bags of layer feed every month and I keep a bowl of oyster shell full that they can crunch free choice. I free range all day long on 10 acres, but in reality they probably only use about 2-3 acres. I don't feed scraps at all. I get right around 18 eggs per day, plus or minus a couple. I keep the light on til 9 pm, it comes on at 4:30 p.m. and off at 9 p.m., and they never miss a beat. They can be VERY tricky about finding places to hide eggs though, I've found them buried in the hay stack, in the hay feeders in the barn, under an upturned stock tank, you name there's no end to the creativity. My chicks will be 1 year old in Feb 2013, and they didn't really start laying consistently until late Sept or early Oct, so your youngsters could just be getting the internal stuff working right about now. If their wattles and combs are all bright read and if your yellow legged birds are still bright yellow, they probably haven't started laying yet. They'll start fading when they do.

Their combs are very red now just in the last week or so - I think I got two new buff orp eggs today, were a tad blood smeared and long ovals. So I think the light is showing some improvement. I'll keep them confined as soon as I finish the little corral this weekend.

 

[dreamcatcherarabians]

If they've just turned really red, then they are getting close. Once you finish the run and can keep them in for a few days, I'll bet you start getting some eggs. They may be a little oddly shaped at first too. My kind of longish pointy ones come from my EE's. They're also green or blue, so no doubt about their origin. I have a Sebright that has just recently started back laying after a heavy molt and her eggs have a little blood on the shells, I've been told that will clear up in time.

 

[dquarles74]

Well my girls are doing much better now with the lights being on! Everyone's combs are bright red now, even my girls that went through a moult, they are noticebly more red. I'm up to 5-6 eggs per day now and have 4 of the babies lay their first eggs this week! And they are singing up a storm all week announcing their eggs, which the older ones never did for me LOL Thanks for the advice. I did keep them penned up for a week and everyone seems to be laying in the coop so I feel much better!

 

[dquarles74]

Just another update - after just a few weeks of adding the extra light to their coop - I am now getting 10-14 eggs per day from my 18 girls! I'm just ecstatic! Thanks to BYC for learning me stuff…. the info on here is invaluable.