Why are my girls so late?

[Farm Frenzy]

I have 12 "teenagers" that are almost 28 weeks old, and they haven't started laying yet. They are already on layer, but still nothing. I keep looking for egg shells, thinking they might be breaking them, but still nada.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

Depends on the breed. Some mature later than others. Plus, day length affect laying. Down in Florida, you should have a little more daylight than most of us though. Are you giving them calcium? Like oyster shell? I wouldn't worry too much, just cross your fingers and wait.

 

[Farm Frenzy]

Layer, and the breeds are Barred Rocks, and Americaunas.

 

[Sahara]

My Wyandottes just started laying and they were 27 weeks. The main thing I noticed was their combs and waddles were bigger and darker red. I'm sure you will get eggs anytime now.

 

[crazyhen]

My understanding is no layer feed until they actually lay the first egg. You don't want that calcium build up and cause kidney disease. Some hens this time of year will not lay until even 30 weeks. Jean

 

[Mrs.Puff]

In my area, all we have available to buy is medicated chick feed, and I don't want to feed them medicine for months and months, so I let them eat layer feed/scratch/forage at 6 weeks. I've never had trouble. The package actually says to only feed til 6 weeks, but the farm store doesn't have anything in between.

 

[JennsPeeps]

I switched my girls to layer when they hit 5 months. No adverse affects. Of course, only my BSL is laying. The BR and RIR are still mooching at 6 months. My banty cochin is 7 months old and has a twisted beak. I'm not sure she'll ever start laying!

On a positive note, the BR is starting to get nice red wattles and she's been squatting for about 2 weeks .

(added for MP's benefit: squatting is a sign of submission & approaching sexual maturity, not necessarily of laying)

 

[Mrs.Puff]

Are there any particular symptoms that might be signs of kidney damage? What do we watch for?

 

[digitS']

Not sure what to watch for - examining the excreta is what I'd imagine is used for diagnosis. Or, they do a postmortem looking for the signs of gout and damage.

Feeding layer ration or oyster shells shouldn't hurry the pullets into laying.

Many commercial layers are from DeKalb hatcheries. This is a 3 page pdf doc on Urolithiasis and Mineral Nutrition from DeKalb.

DeKalb recounts specific management mistakes that led to kidney damage in pullets:

1 - feeding left over lay ration from previous flock (doubled expected mortality throughout life of flock)
2 - feeding low levels of phosphorus (increased mortality rate)
3 - feeding layer ration too early (under 15 weeks of age)
4 - using a large particle calcium source for pullets

Steve

 

[katrinag]

Do not worry I have some that are 31 weeks old and still no eggs. Dang free loaders