Why are my chickens not laying?

[mimipeaches]

I have 14 chickens, 4 rooster Rockey (Barred Rock), Speckels (Speckled Sussex), Pat (Partridge Cochin), Dave (White Cochin) and 10 hens Buffy (Buffed Orpington), Ruby (Rhode Island Red), Easter (New Hampshire red, we first thought that she was an Easter egger but decided to keep her name!), Lacie (Black Australorp), Aunika (Welsummer), Willow (Easter Egger), Ester (Easter Egger), Blue (Blue Andalusian), Sam (Black Sumatra), and Alice (Cuckoo Maran) NO one has started laying yet do you know why??!!!!!. We hatched our 4 roosters and Sam in Late May and got the rest in late July. They are on a diet of Meal worms, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Organic Whole Oats and Whole Corn (We can't find any organic whole corn) It is winter here but I don't know why they have not layed yet!!!!

 

[sourland]

Age of birds and time of year is a factor. Too many cockerels may be a factor, and I am not certain that diet is adequate for optimum egg production.

 

[mimipeaches]

Age of birds and time of year is a factor. Too many cockerels may be a factor, and I am not certain that diet is adequate for optimum egg production.

What would you recommend to add to their diet we can't feed them soy or wheat!!!!!

 

[sourland]

I am not a feed expert, but think that diet may be low in protein. Have you tried researching commercially available organic diets ?

 

[mimipeaches]

I have we do feed them meal worms as much as possible and when there isn't any snow we let them go and free range they eat from our compost pile. We feed them quite a bit of table scraps I don't know what we are missing because of our dietary restrictions we can't use any mixes that are premade! It is a problem that we keep running into!

 

[EggWalrus]

What would you recommend to add to their diet we can't feed them soy or wheat!!!!!

Layer pellets?
They make them in organic versions.
Even if your birds free range, that doesn't sound like a good balanced diet for making eggs, You birds might be suffering from malnutrition. A non balanced high fat diet can cause them to be overweight and that can cause problems with eggs.
Up until about 100 years ago, most people didn't feed their chickens. The birds ate what the cows, pigs and horses spilled, They also ate from the compost/garbage pile that was common to most homes. Most homesteads today lack the total system of other animal to support the birds so they require humans to feed them a proper balanced diet in order to thrive.

 

[aart]

They are on a diet of Meal worms, Organic Sunflower Seeds, Organic Whole Oats and Whole Corn

Are you adding a poultry premix with all the essential vitamins, minerals, and amino acids to the grains?

Names are cute but ages of birds would help more in assessing situation.

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[mimipeaches]

Can roosters have a layer mix? And around here we can't find any feed that is organic without barley, soy, or wheat

 

[mimipeaches]

We don't have a lot of stuff for chickens that we can use so we are kind of stuck!

 

[EggWalrus]

because of our dietary restrictions we can't use any mixes that are premade! It is a problem that we keep running into![/QUOTE]

Are you or the birds allergic to soy and gluten?
Why can't you feed them wheat or soy?