Hi. We've had chickens for a year now. This spring I thought it would be fun to raise chicks, so we bought 10 buckeyes, and 5 barnvelders. Awesome, right? We have two older hens left from last year (loss due to foxes and illnesses) but everything going really well. Chicks arrived in May. Not one egg layed, yet. And now the original two are in molt so no eggs at all. My question is how can we "encourage" egg laying? Just add lighting in the coop for the mornings? Any help is much appreciated. Dave
Pullets that mature in the fall take longer to start laying. You can try to add lighting for the early morning hours, but it might be too late in the year and not work. Considering that it's only another 5 weeks till the days start getting longer again, you may just want to wait it out.
Alright great to have you joining the BYC flock Different breeds mature at different rates and if all you are looking for is eggs then the RIR is about one of the best chickens for this but even they need time to mature into full adulthood, here I hatched 4 RIR chicks in April 2015 and finally 1 started producing eggs only several weeks ago and see is feed store feed as there really nothing grows here and she gets scratch, alpha and laying mash so her feed is better then most chickens and the Alpha is cooked every day as it is in compressed blocks and was designed for horse feed but the chicken and other animals eat it up but I do mix corn and her other feed in with it ...... Basically what I am saying is you chicken is not a machine so the best thing is keep them comfortable and if animals bother them this is a good reason for them to stop or be-late their production process The learning center is a great place to start ......
Hi Dave, I agree with @junebuggena 's comments, some are just slower to mature than others and these shorter days have an impact. The wait can seem to take forever, but you'll get eggs eventually. Thanks for joining us, it's nice to have you here!
