Speckled Sussex not laying. Any ideas?

[aart]

Can you tell me why and how much scratch is too much? I have 12 chickens and usually throw out 3 cups in the morning. Thank you!!!

Good to keep scratch/treats volume down to about 10% of daily feed volume.
Can depend on protein percentage of feed.

 

[Euphman06]

Well, still awaiting the day I see an egg. In a funny story, my 8 year old daughter decided to play a joke on me and put one of our store bought eggs in there for me to find. She got me good..

 

[WindingRoad]

They were hatched May 4th and I know I'm battling shorter/colder days. 2 of them look further along than my other two, in terms of comb size and color but I'm seeing no signs of them wanting to start laying (no squatting that I can tell). They have an 11x4 run that is mulched and I do leave them free range plenty unless they get naugthy and run into my neighbors evergreens lol. Perhaps they are just slow to mature and I'm impatient. Any ideas? Do I need to add grit? I tried giving them extra grit but they really didn't do much with it. I figured they must be getting enough when they are free ranging, but maybe I'm wrong. Thanks!

If they free range are they laying somewhere in your yard. Maybe under a porch. Chickens like to hide eggs. My chickens would make a mad dash to the coop to lay. Sometimes even though they have been laying for a while I will find an egg on the coop floor. Some don't seem to get the warning soon enough to get in the nest box. LOL. Hunt around where they roam and check if their are eggs there. Good luck. BTW they will lay when they darn well please not on your schedule. VBG,

 

[Euphman06]

They typically only free range in the afternoons or before (their) bed time since I don't let them out when I'm at work. The typically lay within the first 6 hours or so of daylight right? They finally recognize me as "dad" though. When I come out they will all run over to me.. I guess waiting for the possible treat, lol. I didn't think that was going to develop, but it has and they have even started following me around a bit. I'm going to try and gradually add some morning light to the coop/run and see if that triggers anything, but I'm pretty much resigned to having to wait till spring. Oh well.. .they're cute and they talk to me all the time so life's good!

 

[WindingRoad]

They typically only free range in the afternoons or before (their) bed time since I don't let them out when I'm at work. The typically lay within the first 6 hours or so of daylight right? They finally recognize me as "dad" though. When I come out they will all run over to me.. I guess waiting for the possible treat, lol. I didn't think that was going to develop, but it has and they have even started following me around a bit. I'm going to try and gradually add some morning light to the coop/run and see if that triggers anything, but I'm pretty much resigned to having to wait till spring. Oh well.. .they're cute and they talk to me all the time so life's good!

I sometimes get my last egg of the day around 3 pm. Remember chickens only have so many eggs at birth. So if they lay them now then they won't have any to lay later on. Personally, I wouldn't put light in my coop for laying purposes. I only light my coop when I keep them in all day on a rainy windy dark day. We were without power for 24 hours this past weekend. 1830 hours Sat to 1830 hours Sunday. Glad I don't heat my coop my birds would have gotten very cold as my heated ( electric) dog bowl was skimmed over with ice. Some people around here are still without power. My house got down to 50F Pretty chilly.

 

[Euphman06]

They've finally started the squatting thing for me. I guess I convinced myself that I saw it before, but it's really pronounced now. So hopefully eggs are coming as soon as the days get longer!

Should I be giving them a layer feed or stick with the starter feed?

 

[WindingRoad]

They've finally started the squatting thing for me. I guess I convinced myself that I saw it before, but it's really pronounced now. So hopefully eggs are coming as soon as the days get longer!

Should I be giving them a layer feed or stick with the starter feed?

I feed 18% protein year round. Protein in Protein out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Should I be giving them a layer feed or stick with the starter feed?

That's up to you. You can either do layer, or grower/starter/all flock with oyster shell on side for calcium.

 

[Euphman06]

First egg today!