*UPDATE in post 7: Finally got an egg today!*; Original post: What is going on? 27 weeks and still

[UllaBee]

We received our chickens on May 27th, so they are 27 weeks and we have not even had ONE lousy egg! And that is out of 28 hens! I know they don't lay when the days are shorter (without light in the henhouse), but my goodness, we thought we would at least get a few!

They free range, but basically stick to our yard (because we also give them chicken feed). We have checked all their hangouts, and still nothing! We have many breeds, so we thought that someone should have given us at least one egg.

Do we really have to wait until spring? (We prefer not to add artificial light to the henhouse.)

ETA: We are in Northern Ohio, if that matters. And they were actually hatched on may 27th.

 

[AlienChick]

Patience!
We've all been there. Ugghhhhh!
Anyway, I would thing the Australorps, Rocks and RIR's would be laying by now.
Of course, as you pointed out, the shorter daylight hours don't help matters.
I agree with you about not adding light.
I'm sure you'll see an egg soon.
Do let us know!

 

[TurtlePowerTrav]

Also if these are non-hatchery birds they tend to take longer to mature. Hatcheries breed for quick maturing, lots of eggs bird strains.

 

[janelle18]

That sucks!! I hope you get one soon, waiting is the hardest part, especially when you have them since eggs/day olds! I wouldn't count on the EE's as much, mine are super slow to start, i had one that started at about 21 weeks, but they other 4 haven't laid an egg yet. We added artificial light at about 21 weeks and we started getting eggs almost right away.

 

[Jakoda]

my 9 will be 25 weeks old on Monday.. So far I've gotten an egg daily from one of my australorps (lucy) and one either every day or she may skip a day from one of my speck sussex's, (Harriet)..which started about 2 weeks ago..The others I'm getting nothing, but I figure the days are shorter, so that could be interefering with production, no one is molting, they are all healthy little piggers, just waiting it out hereD
Diane

 

[johnson5under5]

I completely understand! My 30 week old easter eggers just started laying 2 days ago, Our Black Austrolorps who are the same age have been laying for a month or so (still, on the late side in my opinion). I have found when the birds reach maturity during the end of summer/fall eggs are a little harder to come by. I will be ordering my chicks earlier next year Hang in there!!

 

[UllaBee]

Thought you all would want to know... We FINALLY got an egg today!!!! That makes them 27 weeks and 2 days old! We think it came from one of the 4 blue Andalusians, since it was a bit on the small side and white. One of them has much redder and larger comb/waddles, so it was probably her, sweet ol' Fancy. It was a perfect looking egg, especially for the very first.

I would share a pic, but we were excited to taste the difference! LOL!

Thank you all so much for your encouragement! It was so hard to wait.

 

[AlienChick]

Congratulations on that first egg!!!

I hope it tasted as good as you imagined.

And, don't worry about the size; they do get bigger.