Possible to have 4 breeds and 4 barren birds?

[5280native]

So we have 4 pullets. 1 Silkie bantam, 1 easter egger, 1 gold-laced wyndotte and 1 Cochin.

Bought them all May 1st, all were 10-12 weeks at the time. All seem completely healthy, have a 2 perch coop and a 8'x10' run.
Thought there might be an issue with not enough food (?) improved their feeder to be constant (and pellets, not crumbles), added oyster shells in a separate feeder as well as the usual scraps,fresh veggies, etc.
We are in Denver so the weather is temperate, not too hot or too cold, they have a constant water supply...

Maybe the coop is too small? we let them out almost every night to wander the yard outiside of the run as well.. the only odd thing is the silkie will be inside the coop on the perch at sunset, but the other 3 will sit on the coop as opposed to going inside, but before it was the other way around, the silkie was the odd girl out....

Help?

 

[enola]

If you post pictures we could see what they look like.

 

[5280native]

If you post pictures we could see what they look like.

Sure, here you go. the pic of the silkie isn't the best, her "crown" isn't always that flat on her head it's puffier
Thanks!!

 

[azygous]

They sure look beautiful and healthy. Are you saying these hens have NEVER laid?

I live down in the southern part of your state, and I can't picture Denver having any general adverse environmental factors that could affect egg production. But perhaps you have very noisy and disruptive neighbors? Are you by a noisy freeway? And industrial operation that is noisy and polluting?

By this time, by the law of averages, you should be getting eggs from at least half of the girls.

If you are able to rule out environmental factors, I would suggest you take a stool sample from the flock and send it off to be checked over for parasites and pathogens. You may have an invisible enemy that is preventing egg production.

 

[5280native]

Yep, not a single egg. It's frustrating.
There is some street noise, but they have had that since they were chicks. Maybe that could be the issue?
And I will keep the stool sample in mind.

 

[enola]

What are you feeding them ?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Are you sure of the age when you bought them? What did they look like? A lot of times I find birds are misrepresented by sellers as to the age either as being older or younger than they are - sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. Do you have any pictures of when you first got them? If so we may be able to help you sort out the age from those.


As said - they look lovely - so please don't think that the following questions are a reflection of me thinking you are not caring for them properly - but it is information that can play into the situation:

What is their diet at this time? Not only what, but how much.

How are you providing water to your flock?

 

[ShockValue]

OGM has a good point. If they were misrepresented and very young when you bought them, the would not be laying yet. Youngest possible age for these birds would be 17 weeks. If they were 12 weeks at purchase, then that would make them 29 weeks. A little late to start laying, but not unheard of. Especially in Cochin and Silkie birds.

Do they do any egg laying behaviors? Squatting, singing, hanging out it nest boxes.

 

[5280native]

Thank you all for your help

We are feeding them organic pellets for layers, they were on crumbles until just recently. We were feeding them 2 or 3x per day, but now switched to an automatic feeder as I read that they need 4-5 oz per day to produce eggs. They were on the grower feed until, err, maybe a month ago? Maybe 6 weeks? their water is automatic as well, they always have some.

As for how much, hard to say, but they seem to eat a lot. Hoping the pellets will help out as well.

And no, I take no offense to the questions . Attached are some photos from when we got them on 5/1
The feeder you see in the background has recently been changed to an automatic 24x7 feeder to provide more

 

[5280native]

OGM has a good point. If they were misrepresented and very young when you bought them, the would not be laying yet. Youngest possible age for these birds would be 17 weeks. If they were 12 weeks at purchase, then that would make them 29 weeks. A little late to start laying, but not unheard of. Especially in Cochin and Silkie birds.

Do they do any egg laying behaviors? Squatting, singing, hanging out it nest boxes.

There is some singing going on, the stopped peeping quite a while ago. I think 12 weeks might have been the top of the age range when we got them, not sure.
The laying box is the odd thing. They don't hand out in at. They wander around the run all day long (and the yard when we let them out).
At night the silkie is in there, but the others end up roosting on top of the box instead of inside it.