When Will my Chickens Lay?

[Tomfieldenloveshichickens]

My 5 Rhode Island Reds haven't started laying yet but they are 25 weeks old, some are 26 weeks old. I am a bit worried as i have never had chickens before. Could my chickens be cockerels. They don't have any cockerel feautures yet though. It is winter time over here in the UK. They sit down in ther coop sometimes when i put in new straw. I am thinking of using the deep litter method. They are not sitting down as i approach and i have not heard the egg song. Their combs and waddles are getting quite big now apart from one chickens whose is still really pale and small. Some of the chickens have small green streaks of feathers on their bodies. Please can people comment on this really quickly as i can't wait till their first egg.

Thank you for the comments i hope you will make.

Tom

 

[Toast n Jelly]

They're just about ready to lay so have a little patience

If they roam about perhaps they've layed elsewhere? To check if they are secretly laying just look at their vents, layers will have red soft vent and non layers will be pink and tiny.

 

[Tomfieldenloveshichickens]

Toast'n Jelly :

They're just about ready to lay so have a little patience

If they roam about perhaps they've layed elsewhere? To check if they are secretly laying just look at their vents, layers will have red soft vent and non layers will be pink and tiny.

I have them in a run(not free range). Recently its been snowing as well so they aren't going outside. Do you think they will start squatting soon​

 

[halo]

Theres a sticky right above your post that will tell you everything you want to know:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=423023

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

My hens did not start laying until they were 5-6 months old . My RIR and BO were the last to lay. Yours sound like they are getting close. You might have a look at the feed you are giving. Mine were stalled until I gave them 20% .

 

[Tomfieldenloveshichickens]

But all these sites say between 20-22 weeks not 25 weeks and 26 weeks HELP!!!

 

[Tdub4chiks]

My 4 RIR's will be 25 wks old Monday and still nothing. Someone put together a list of the earliest & latest that breeds lay. The longest a RIR went was 29 weeks. So, I'm hoping any day now.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

Do you think they will start squatting soon

That's how I knew that my silkie pullets were pullets at 5 months old! Keep trying for the squat, it will happen.
It just may be the cold and snowy weather that's slowing them down. Prepare yourself for eating lots of omelets soon!​

 

[dsqard]

Remember that all of those "typical" ages that a certain breed will lay are just an average. Pullets will lay when their bodies are physically mature enough to produce an egg. Nothing can rush mother nature. Now the one thing that you could do to help stimulate egg laying is increase the amount of light they get in a day to 14 hours but if they are not physically mature enough to lay they will not do it. The other thing I would like for you to know is that not all pullets will sing the egg song and not all of them will squat for you. I have three of my seven pullets laying. I very rarely hear the egg song (and at least one of them lays an egg a day) and none of them have squatted for me. You just have to wait until an egg shows up some times. You aren't doing anything wrong, they are just not mature enough.

 

[halo]

If pullets come to egg laying age in the middle of the winter, its likely the short days will delay them until spring. Age isnt everything.