When will my hen start laying?

[Foreveryukon]

Hello everyone I have 7 hens that are now 27 weeks old, I was wondering if they would start laying eggs anytime soon? I live in Canada and it gets cold here, but the coop is isolated and it has a heat lamp with led lights turned on 14 hours a day. I have two polish hens, one orpington, one black cooper maran, one Ameraucana and one plymouth!

I will upload a few pictures of them if it can help! Thank you!

Mine started at around 17 weeks old.small starter eggs but cute.. . I live in the Yukon and unless it gets below -20 I only have 1 incandescent light bulb to keep it warmish. I also have led lights on 14+ hrs a day except in summer. I want them to get a good layer of down feathers to keep them warm in the winter. they go in the middle yard, which is enclosed with plastic, even when its -20c . right now we're are at -40ish outside and the plastic part is -28 or so. they have been in the coop all day as that is too cold, they have the option to go out but prefer to stay inside. I am still getting eggs also. not a lot but average of 5 a day from 9 hens.
My girls are Rhode island reds and sunsetters, very cold hardy. Right now I have 2 heat lamps in the coop for them. Once it warms up to about 25 or so they will be back out in the middle yard looking for whatever has not frozen..

 

[sciencegrrrrl]

The shorter days make it harder to judge. They look ready but may be waiting on more sunlight. Mine usually stop between Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially if they've been through a hard molt (thanks ladies, it's baking season!) but get started again around Christmas- New Years.

 

[Claudinechick]

I always worry when I hear about people using heat lamps. We have had more than one bulb explode over the years, which luckily did not cause a fire. That said, every winter there is at least one story on the local news about a coop burning down.
We still use heaters, but some that do not pose a threat of fire.
We rely on just LED bulbs to create the extra hours of daylight".

I do also worry about fire! i have a heat Pad that looks like a small tv drilled to the wall! The pad is the only source of heat I use most of the time and is a very safe heat source! If it get's below -20 I use the heat lamp until it gets warmer! I also put the heat lamp very high so my only worry is the bulb breaking.

 

[Claudinechick]

Mine started at around 17 weeks old.small starter eggs but cute.. . I live in the Yukon and unless it gets below -20 I only have 1 incandescent light bulb to keep it warmish. I also have led lights on 14+ hrs a day except in summer. I want them to get a good layer of down feathers to keep them warm in the winter. they go in the middle yard, which is enclosed with plastic, even when its -20c . right now we're are at -40ish outside and the plastic part is -28 or so. they have been in the coop all day as that is too cold, they have the option to go out but prefer to stay inside. I am still getting eggs also. not a lot but average of 5 a day from 9 hens.
My girls are Rhode island reds and sunsetters, very cold hardy. Right now I have 2 heat lamps in the coop for them. Once it warms up to about 25 or so they will be back out in the middle yard looking for whatever has not frozen..

Wow your hens are sturdy! Mine won't go out if it's below -15 outside (they don't like the feeling of snow) I have a similar set up to yours (newly set up last saturday) and it did the job since I got 9 eggs in the last three days!Thank you so much for your comment and hopefully it will get a bit warmer for you, which means lots of eggs!

 

[Claudinechick]

The shorter days make it harder to judge. They look ready but may be waiting on more sunlight. Mine usually stop between Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially if they've been through a hard molt (thanks ladies, it's baking season!) but get started again around Christmas- New Years.

Thank you for the help! I was bless to have all of them but my two polish start laying in the last three days I am feeling pretty lucky! My older hens also stopped laying right before Thanksgiving, it is a strange feeling when you have to go buy yourself some eggs

 

[Chickenclaude]

I received 4 week old chicks in March. They laid in late Aug/earlySeptember. And they did it one at a time.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

it is a strange feeling when you have to go buy yourself some eggs

Yes, I agree with you there! This past fall was the first time since 2013 that I had to buy eggs because all went into molt and stopped laying at the same time! Fortunately, they're back to laying again as of the New Year, but it was 10 whole weeks of buying eggs - something I'm not used to!

 

[oldhen2345]

Thank you so much!

Two other hens started laying today!I know for sure my Ameraucana is one of them but the other two are a mystery

The only way I could tell (I have a black copper and a splash Marans) who the good girl was, was by camping out in front of the coop and watching the traffic in and out - and who sang the egg song. I noticed the eggs were laid after 10AM and before 1PM. So, I brought myself and a large peach tea outside and watched chickens for awhile. Sure enough, the only hen going the coop was Margaret, my crossbeaked, blind in one eye Copper Marans. And she is faithful with the eggs too. Thank goodness I decided to keep my special needs girl.

 

[oldhen2345]

The shorter days make it harder to judge. They look ready but may be waiting on more sunlight. Mine usually stop between Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially if they've been through a hard molt (thanks ladies, it's baking season!) but get started again around Christmas- New Years.

Yep, mine did the same thing. I used to give extra eggs away at work- my girls were producing machines. IN October, I only got 11 eggs then nothing for NOvember or December. January started slow, but I am getting one egg a day now- good old Margaret. It is real embarrassing to be at the check out and have eggs on the counter and look up to see one of your friends or neighbors looking at that carton.