Six months hens haven't laid yet! Plz help!

[HartzlerHappyHens]

Ok thanks so much!!!!

 

[GranolaGirl72]

I don't want to throw a bee in the bonnet, but our buffs and rock began laying 4 months after they hatched. The Easter Eggers started weeks after that, but did lay before 6 months. We have a new batch of 4 EE this year that were hatched April 5th and we have gotten our first eggs from two of them this week, again four months after they were hatched. I have not had sex-link hens yet however with 10 out of 12 hens laying that early, my money is on the hiding place as well. Go with the suggestion that was made of confining them for a week. It won't hurt them not to free range for a bit as long as they have food and water. I am betting you will be making omelets before you know it.

 

[getaclue]

As a general rule of thumb, the better the quality of the chicken, the later it will start to lay, but the longer it will lay before it's spent.

 

[Akrnaf2]

Hi guys! I am new to backyard chicken farming. We have five hens, two Rhoude Island Red and two Barred Rocks. We also have one Black Australorp Rooster (who we bought as a barred rock female chick, but turned out to be very different then what we expected) she was in the nursery with all the barred rock female chicks and I just grabbed three out and two out of the Rhode island female nursery, so we were shocked to find out she was not only a different bread then are understand I understand but also a male! Crazy right??? But he has always been my favorite so I really don't care!
Anyways I'm really here to ask if it is normal for six month old hens to not laid their first egg??? Not one egg, from any of them!
We have raised them from one week old. They have a huge coop that we converted from our garden/took shed. They have an enormous run that is available for them 24/7 and they free range in out huge yard all the time. We feed them chicken food and grit and they have constant access to it as well as fruit, veggies, and left overs all the time.
I read they should be laying eggs around four to four and a half months. We have put so much time and money into this, and we are getting impatient. We love them but we need to know if this is normal or if there is something we could do?
P.s. we out fake eggs in there neat boxes and it has not influenced any laying.
Thanks so much!!!!!!

Wait.

 

[member 373180]

How do their faces look? They usually get a lot redder and fleshier when they finally get ready to lay. Have you heard them singing any egg songs that might indicate that they're hiding the eggs somewhere in your yard?

 

[lcertuche]

My Red Productions and Cochin mix did not start laying until around 8 months. One good thing about not starting out so young is supposed to be a longer laying life. Those high production egg layers burn out fast and many start having problems like being egg bound.

A couple of mine were actually laying in the woods before I caught on to it. I found a nest with more than 30 eggs in it!