transferred hens won't lay

[Kramspott]

Last week I made a swap of four roosters [that had to go] to a serious chicken rancher and in return received 4 California White (1 year old) hens.

The rancher told me he was getting on average 3 eggs a day from these girls.

Hours after their arrival they were making themselves available to my two current roosters and letting them mount, however, it's been 5 days and not a single egg outta one of them.

Should I be concerned?

Kurt in St. Louis

 

[Kittymomma]

Completely normal. Some don't miss a beat but it's very common for it to take a few weeks for them to settle in and start laying again. It can take even longer if the move was really stressfull. For future reference though it's really better to keep new birds seperate from your main flock for a month or so to reduce the risk of introducing disease. Even healthy looking birds can be carrying some pretty bad stuff.

ETA:

 

[sourland]

Some may even go into a molt and not lay for a month or more after being moved. Chickens don't like change!