What to do with the other chickens

[akostka1988]

I have 5 hens originally ID’d as Ameraucana recently ID’d as Orpingtons and only one of them is laying. She started a week/week and a half ago first clutch came with 3 fart eggs (only yolks!) then Almost daily (minus 1 day) she was laying 1 egg (started off with massive double yolked eggs then normal eggs) I’ve seen her intentionally come to the coop to lay the one egg a couple times and I’ve pulled them from underneath her as well so I know it’s her. My question is why the others aren’t laying. I try to keep them in the coop and run until noon time although there have been a couple days I have forgotten to close the run door at night but none of them wander off from the flock and I’ve checked their usual hang outs for any communal nests/random egg lays and I’ve got nothing. They were all purchased on the same day so I know they’re all the same age. And I’m literally only getting one egg a day in the same nesting box too so I’m 100% sure it’s Kung Fu laying them. And now my rooster has taken to crowing at noon time like an unplanned alarm clock for the release of the flock so I can’t see altering what time I let them free range easily. Any ideas/advice?

 

[nuthatched]

How old are they? Different chickens lay at different ages.

 

[akostka1988]

How old are they? Different chickens lay at different ages.

They are about 5 months old.

 

[akostka1988]

They are about 5 months old.

How old are they? Different chickens lay at different ages.

I honestly thought Kung Fu was going to be the last of the hens to lay because she seemed to have developed slower (smaller build, smaller comb, and the comb didn’t turn red as quickly as the others)

 

[nuthatched]

They are about 5 months old.

It's still early for most chickens, they'll lay usually in about 4-6 weeks. About 6 months old.

 

[Aapomp831]

At 5 months they are approximately 20 weeks old. Typical starting age for laying is around 21 weeks; some chickens lay early and others take their time. They will all lay; just be patient. The rooster crowing has nothing to do with anything; roosters crow all day long, not just in the morning. Not all crows are alerts, some are just dominance reminders.

 

[akostka1988]

At 5 months they are approximately 20 weeks old. Typical starting age for laying is around 21 weeks; some chickens lay early and others take their time. They will all lay; just be patient. The rooster crowing has nothing to do with anything; roosters crow all day long, not just in the morning. Not all crows are alerts, some are just dominance reminders.

Oh I know he’s done it other times but this one is definitely a demand...he stands right below the window that overlooks the coop (my living room) and goes and goes until I go outside

 

[akostka1988]

So I guess she’s just early Works for me at least I know they aren’t defective or something lol

 

[rosemarythyme]

Just as human children mature and hit puberty at different times, so do hens. I consider any eggs before 6 months to be "early."

 

[thepick4uchicks]

How old are they? Different chickens lay at different ages.

Orpingtons lay around 24 weeks. The problem is that the shortage of natural light with the days getting shorter and this impacting the said number of hours that they are getting to influence their egg laying. So if you have chicks born in Mid to late May of this year... they will lay this year but the when and the frequency of laying are the million dollar questions for us. The number of daylight hours that we put into their daily schedule by adding some natural or synthetic lighting such as in the earlier hours of the day in the coop will help increase egg production and also provide better chances for them to lay more eggs in a week however they will always only lay only one egg per day.