Why aren’t my hens laying eggs!

[Lady of McCamley]

Are you sure she isn't laying? Silkies and Cochins lay very similar eggs in color and sizes. They may both be laying but not steady enough for you to have gotten 2 eggs in one day.

Or she could still be maturing. Silkies mature more slowly, and if you are in the northern hemisphere, you have short daylight now. As another poster stated, it takes 14 hours of continuous daylight to trigger the hormones for laying.

Or she could have laid an egg or two that you thought were the Cochins and is contemplating brooding, being a Silkie.

But if she is still growing new feathers, she is likely just maturing slowly and had a late juvenile molt that she is slow to come out of due to the short daytime hours.

LofMc

 

[ladybugchickenfarms]

probably just the weather but another possibility is this: my chickens weren't laying for a while, and i was worried. but they were laying, just not in their nest, we called it their "secret nest" maybe go on an egg hunt and see if they have made a secret nest too. if so, just put a fake egg in their nesting box and they'll get it.

 

[Chickassan]

A bunch of us have seven and eight month old chickens not laying and nobody has figured out one exact reason why not. Your hens are still eating,drinking,pooping doing everything but laying right? All you can do is wait, speaking from experience here.

 

[mestenos]

I've gotten chicks in early summer and not had them lay until the following spring. My hens, in general, are very poor layers in the winter. I have 14 hens right now and only get about 2 eggs a day. If you're in a cold climate, I get it shouldn't be a surprise that your young hens aren't excited about starting to lay eggs.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The hens you mentioned are not genetically predisposed to laying many eggs.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

X2
Silkies and Cochins aren't prolific layers to begin with, not to mention that they are also slow to mature.
I wouldn't be concerned as long as they are getting proper nutrition, clean water, big fresh air and clean conditions. You got them 3 months ago and the stress of the move likely delayed onset of ovulation. Then you were after the summer solstice, meaning day length was decreasing.
Weather has virtually nothing to do with ovulation. Increasing day length vis a vis decreasing day length is the primary determinant for reproduction as long as nutrition is good.
I kept a record over the winter a couple years ago of production from 7 flocks along with recording daily high and low temperatures and precipitation. There was no correlation between temperature and egg production. After winter solstice, egg laying slowly increased steadily in spite of several temperature dips well below zero and snowfall.
For those interested in the science behind this, I direct you to a post I made some time back relating to detection of light by the pineal gland. Especially note the third and fourth paragraph.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ooks-and-more.1137467/page-1119#post-17735882