Topic of the Week - Let's talk about eggs

[I Love Layers]

Alright so I'm not going into all this detail but I bought two white leghorns that were supposed to be 13 weeks old when I got them. Well it's been two months and I still haven't gotten an egg from either one of them. Can anyone explain this?

Do you have or need artificial lighting? Are they getting the correct feed? They should have at 16% protein.

 

[azygous]

Alright so I'm not going into all this detail but I bought two white leghorns that were supposed to be 13 weeks old when I got them. Well it's been two months and I still haven't gotten an egg from either one of them. Can anyone explain this?

Pullets hatched late in summer won't lay in the fall or winter due to short days. Then winter days are even shorter, so if you want to see eggs before spring, you need to jump start these pullets with supplemental light.

I was in the same boat. I had three pullet hitting point of lay in the fall. So I got a set of rope lights and hung them in their coop. I plugged the lights into a timer set to come on at 4 am, approximately three hours before sunrise. That did the trick. But it still took over a month for it to happen after I started the lights.

I also had a very late chick hatch at end of summer. She was in this coop with the older pullets, and she began laying a few weeks ago at five months.

It's the light, not the cold, that is the issue in lack of eggs. Layers need a bare minimum of twelve hours of light to lay, fourteen is ideal, so I settle for thirteen and it's been working out splendidly.

 

[GardenWren]

what i meant was that some get slower in production and their eggs get larger making them have production problems sometimes.

Gotcha. We had that problem with a couple of our first WL hens. They layed like their lives depended on it for about 2-2.5 years then all of a sudden we lost one out of the blue. Post-mortem inspection revealed she had a large mass of hard-semi hard yolk in herror abdomen. The next we lost after several bouts with egg obstructions. They're bred to lay hard and fast, not go the distance in most cases. There are exceptions though.

 

[Lizardlicks]

Since a couple people have mention it already, I'm curious: can others report better production from their birds on fermented feed vs non-fermented?

 

[lazy gardener]

Since a couple people have mention it already, I'm curious: can others report better production from their birds on fermented feed vs non-fermented?

Without a doubt. My birds lay sooner, and more than those of neighbors and friends with the only difference being the FF. Try it, and you'll see the results in your own flock.

 

[chikinman864]

Pullets hatched late in summer won't lay in the fall or winter due to short days. Then winter days are even shorter, so if you want to see eggs before spring, you need to jump start these pullets with supplemental light.

I was in the same boat. I had three pullet hitting point of lay in the fall. So I got a set of rope lights and hung them in their coop. I plugged the lights into a timer set to come on at 4 am, approximately three hours before sunrise. That did the trick. But it still took over a month for it to happen after I started the lights.

I also had a very late chick hatch at end of summer. She was in this coop with the older pullets, and she began laying a few weeks ago at five months.

It's the light, not the cold, that is the issue in lack of eggs. Layers need a bare minimum of twelve hours of light to lay, fourteen is ideal, so I settle for thirteen and it's been working out splendidly.

 

[chikinman864]

Pullets hatched late in summer won't lay in the fall or winter due to short days. Then winter days are even shorter, so if you want to see eggs before spring, you need to jump start these pullets with supplemental light.

I was in the same boat. I had three pullet hitting point of lay in the fall. So I got a set of rope lights and hung them in their coop. I plugged the lights into a timer set to come on at 4 am, approximately three hours before sunrise. That did the trick. But it still took over a month for it to happen after I started the lights.

I also had a very late chick hatch at end of summer. She was in this coop with the older pullets, and she began laying a few weeks ago at five months.

It's the light, not the cold, that is the issue in lack of eggs. Layers need a bare minimum of twelve hours of light to lay, fourteen is ideal, so I settle for thirteen and it's been working out splendidly.

I do have a light source for them the light comes on at four am and they are getting around 14 hours of light. I have 22% feed in feeding them. It's been almost a month with the light so I will give it a little longer. They are also the two youngest hens in the group. Would that make a difference?

 

[DancingWthDucks]

- Which breeds or types of chickens are good egglayers?
Leghorns and Hybrids are probally the best in terms of egg output, however they burn out sooner and stop laying after just a few years. My flock of Bantams consists of (excluding cockerel): 1 Partridge Wyandotte, 1 Silver Pencilled Wyandotte, 1 Buff Rock, 1 Wheaton Sulmtaler, 1 White Silkie and 1 Polish x Silkie...... Not the best laying fleet, however my main use for them is bloodiness with any eggs as a bonus, so that's why I opted for traditional bantam breeds. In the future, I'll probally replace them with ex-battery hens- I have a huge demand for eggs and I've always wanted to rescue a few mistreated hens. (to be honest my ducks lay a lot better than any of the chickens that I have owned, including hybrids )

- How do you get the best production from your layers?
Give them the best life possible- give them a large grassy field for them to free-range in, and a nice predator proof coop. The main reason why most people want hens is because they want to know where their food comes from.....you're wanting fresh eggs from happy hens. Although some do use artificial lighting, I personally don't- a chicken is only born with a certain amount of yolks inside her, so encouraging her to lay every day wI'll give you more eggs in the SHORTRUN, but they will run dry quicker. Artificial light can also cause problems such as Eggbound.

- At what ages did you get the first eggs from your pullets? 
Bantam are pretty stubborn layers, so they probally started laying at the 40 week mark, some even later. The hybrids I've had in the past have started laying at around 18-22 weeks.

- What do you do with your extra eggs? (Yes… I know it's winter for most of us at the moment and that's only a dream but...  )
My Mum sells them for me at her work and she is constantly getting harassed for eggs. She regually finds notes, emails, etc demanding for more eggs, and when she brings them in she has 4 or 5 people trying to buy them at once lol. I sell them for £1 for 1/2 dozen chicken eggs, and £2.50 for 1/2 dozen duck.....its not much, but contributes towards their upkeep.

- Eggs of different colours - Which breeds lay which colour eggs?
Marans (Dark Brown eggs) , Araucanas (Blue/ Green eggs), Cream Legbars (Powder Blue eggs), Plymouth Rocks (Pink eggs) and Wellsummers (Dark Brown with a speckles) are the main ones in the UK. Everyone on BYC are always talking about 'Easter Eggers' but we don't have them in the UK.

 

[A-K-A]

I don't understand why flock owners will go to the extend to feed natural organic non gmo sugar free feeds. Then artifically stimulate sun up and sun down. Patience folks, unless you have roosters the eggs will come.

Just my 2 centabos worth

 

[azygous]

I don't understand why flock owners will go to the extend to feed natural organic non gmo sugar free feeds. Then artifically stimulate sun up and sun down. Patience folks, unless you have roosters the eggs will come.

Just my 2 centabos worth

Your reasoning is slightly off. A chicken's endocrine system cannot tell the difference between light from the sun and light from an electric bulb. However, the quality of feed definitely can have either adverse or positive effects on a chicken's body.

Besides, simply because you find it difficult to understand the flock management practices of other chicken keepers doesn't prove that they are the ones that are doing something wrong or stupid.