When do November chicks start to lay?

Hi. My Oct. Nov. hatches started laying a month ago. They are 26, 23, old now. They are a cross between my BOs, Leghorn, and EE hens and a RIR roo. I just start to get a good number of eggs and one of the Leghorns goes broody.
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See my thread Broody Leghorn Cross??? She's been sitting on the eggs for two days now.
 
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If that happened to me, I wouldn't know whether to
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or to
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I got my chicks last Aug. 9th and they started laying in Jan. I thought the wait was going to kill me dead, then, all of a sudden eggs started to appear. It is still fun to go get them! Are your girls squatting for you? Kind of squatting down they usually spread their wings a little, like they want you to pet them? That's a sign too. All mine did that.
 
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It's just a fact that chickens can do well under many different methods of management and care. So if you're happy with what you're doing, so am I. Seriously. If the chickens are healthy and happy, then everybody's happy.
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However, if I were unhappy that they weren't laying yet, I would only give them chicken feed and table scraps that are meat protein (leftover tuna sandwich, leftover spareribs, etc), until they started laying. Once they were laying for a few weeks and got their eggs up to size, then I would start fiddling with their feed by maybe putting out one feeder with chicken feed in it and then another feeder with wheat only. That way they could decide what they wanted. Studies show that after about two weeks adult layers can manage their own protein levels when given the choice between chicken feed and grain if given free choice throughout the day.

Chickens can't manufacture and lay an egg (made of protein) if they aren't eating enough protein. Minimum is usually stated (by the industry) as 16% protein. So if they eat chicken feed only all day long, 16% of their intake is protein. If they eat chicken feed in the morning, then you take the food away, and then in the evening they get wheat, and they eat the same amount of both foods (say 3 ounces in morning and 3 ounces in evening), then your chickens are getting throughout the day about 14% protein. They will likely still lay eggs, but it won't be as many--once you get them started laying.

Additionally, if I'm understanding correctly and you are only feeding them twice a day, they may not be getting enough food to support their maintenance and then go on to lay eggs. Chickens need X amount of energy/protein to maintain their health and then an additional amount to lay eggs. These numbers are out there in the literature. If you find the info, make sure you look at the table for dual purpose breeds and not for leghorns which need less feed than dual purpose chickens like Sussex and Australorps.

Chickens of today have been bred through the last 50 years or so to need X amount of protein/energy to perform. I wish we could just toss them some corn and tell them to go rustle up their own food, but they can't lay much on that. I'm all for supplementing as much as possible with foraging, feeding scraps, and feeding grain, but only after they've gotten their eggs up to medium size or larger.

You mention that they have a lot of light where they sleep. If you mean they have the light on while they sleep, then that can mess up their circadian rhythm which will affect egg laying on some level. Hopefully, you mean that they get natural dark and light periods just as if they were living in the wild.

Again, chickens can do well and thrive under a wide variety of feeding situations, so do whatever works well for you and yours. It may just be a matter of time. After all, chickens are meant to lay sooner or later.

Oh, yeah, and how many roosters are in with them? Any? Too many roosters can agitate the new layers and then they take longer to start laying.

There are two roosters. One being 24 weeks today.The other being 14-16 weeks. They grew up with 4 roosters through their first 20 odd weeks. Should I give them all the food they can eat? Their is a small bit left in the troughs in the afternoon( mornings feed) and in the morning a little but more depending on if I feed them in the evening or night. How often should I feed them + is the diet they are on ok? Yes, the light they get is natural.
 
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my chickens that are laying do that
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is that a sign that they are laying?
 
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Wow! you're chicken is broody allready and mine arn't even laying
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I wonder what I am doing wrong??....
 
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I'm curious how you know they aren't laying alternately. I can only tell which breed is laying, not the specific bird. Unless, of course, I separate them.
 
I GOT MY FIRST ONE TODAY
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its absolutly tiny but its a start
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