should they be laying now?

[JessicaAndHerChickens]

My New Hampshire Reds and Rhode Island Reds are about 21-22 weeks old now and havent started laying. I havent really noticed a squat yet. Shouldnt they be laying now? They get water everyday, but they do sometimes run out before I get out there to refill it. They also freerange about 3 days a week and then I give them food in their coop when we put them in for the night. Now sometimes, they go wild and scratch out most, if not all, of the food before I get out to refill it. Could they not be getting enough of the food? I am feeding them grower food. Should I switch it to laying now, even though they arent laying yet?

 

[wjallen05]

Well, my RIRs are 26+ weeks old, and I also have a 30 week old Leghorn and EE and NONE of them has started laying yet. I've been feeding them laying pellets for months now. I am getting tired of waiting for eggs!!

 

[JessicaAndHerChickens]

isnt it frustrating?!? I want some eggs from my backyard to eat! lol.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Not that this has anything to do with laying, but if their water is running dry in less than a day, I'd recommend getting a bigger (or a second) waterer...

Regarding grower vs. layer, opinions vary, but our feed store owner (whom I trust) recommended switching over to layer at 16 weeks. Others here recommend switching after they start laying... I would suggest switching over now, but I'm a newb at this, so take that fwiw.

My small flock hasn't started laying yet either...they'll be 20 weeks around labor day. I did start getting the 'squat' from our RSL this week. Maybe soon?...

 

[jafo]

How many chickens do you have that eat and drink everything "before you get out there and fill it" ? We have 6, 16 and 20 weeks old. I have a 7lb feeder (crumbles) that when full takes e'em almost 4 days to empty, and they never do. I have 2 one gallon waterers, that they have never emptied in 3 days, no matter how hot it gets. So if I had 18 chickens, I'd hafta "get out there" every day.

 

[Eggie and Me]

The owner of our feed store strongly recommended that we not give our gals (almost 18 wks old) laying pellets until we get our first egg... From the sounds of things, looks like we still have several weeks to go...

 

[Indiana hens]

Hmn! They aren't laying but u r not going to give them layer feed! I have an experiment for u ; give em some layer feed and see what happens after 2 weeks.

 

[cmom]

There are a lot of factors why they aren't laying yet. One reason my be the heat. This past week here it has been in the low to mid 90's and my girls are slowing down. I don't start feeding my birds layer feed until I get my first egg. If I have any grower left I mix it with the layer.

 

[Judy]

Layer isn't designed to cause them to lay, but to provide the nutrients they need when they are laying.

 

[Eggie and Me]

Quote:
At what age for laying pellets?? I've read 16 weeks and have heard, just wait?????????????????? Oh so many options, which is right?

Actually this is a blast!!