when will they lay?

[metchosinhens]

I have 5 RIR(possible one rooster) and they are 22weeks and showing no signs of laying yet. we dont have a light in the coop and it gets dark around 5pm, should we put one in? will this help? Anything you can suggest would be great. thank you

 

[salt and pepper]

some more light would help. sometimes when they don;t get enough light during winter, they will wait til spring!

 

[DianaMallory]

Add morning light! Have a light come on in morning 2 hours before day break.

 

[Den in Penn]

Considering that the days will start to get longer in about two weeks and it takes about two weeks for the added light to take effect. Add in that they may not be quite ready to lay at 22 or 24 weeks. And they may just start to lay soon without any help. If this were a month or two earlier I might say add the light. At this point of the year I would just let nature take its course.

 

[greengravy]

My chickens usually stop laying around November-ish and start laying again in early February. Feb. 6th is the exact day when I got my first egg after the long winter "egg laying dormancy" last year. By mid February they were ALL laying eggs again.

I don't use lights on them. I have layer breeds.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I agree they are likely not mature enough to lay yet. I don't even start to expect a first egg until week 24 and had some Orpingtons once that waited long past 30 weeks. That was depressing and no longer keep them.

I didn't use lighting this year and can affirm that it makes a heck of a difference. When we did use lighting it was an energy efficient 18w flourescent bulb in warm white. We had it on a timer to provide 12 hours light total. The timer allowed several switch on and off so had it turned on at 5 am and then off at 7 am, on again at 3 pm and off at 5 pm. That way I never had to adjust the timer and could let the day light dwindle and gain knowing they had 12 hours of light. About March we get up to 12 hours of light again so took the light out.

 

[nakstk]

Are they squatting for you yet? They just might not be mature enough. With the shorter day light hours it will take longer then if the reached maturity in the spring or summer. Just hang in there. I have an EE that will be 36 weeks tomorrow and still no egg from her.