Why arent my 8 month old chickens laying

phantomml

In the Brooder
8 Years
May 4, 2011
58
1
39
New Waterford
I bought 12 Production Red- Red Star- or what every they are on June 6th. They were ready to lay- and when asked what that meant it was 5 or so months. Not only did they not lay, but haven't either. Its been almost 3 months, I know its been hot, but not recently. My april peeps (leghorns) are laying. Every other chicken that is of age is laying except one pen who is molting or eating their eggs I am not sure which. They are fed grain that is for layers, crumbles and mash with DE in portion, with black oil sunflower and scrain grains as a treat, All kinds of fruits and veggies including, but not limited to Watermelon, Cantelope, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Lettuces, Zuchini, Peaches, Plums, Apples, Nectarines, Cherries, Peppers (Sweet), Cauliflower leaves, Brussel sprouts, corn, corn husks (though they barely touch it), Green beans, and oranges- but not often for the citris. I don't give them onions, garlic, potatoes
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. They didn't eat radishes or any other root, even carrots. Celery was left alone but offered. They get these treats everyday in the morning, in some fashion whether its the fruit or veggie, and sometimes cooked rice or Popcorn
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. and get to free range for about 6 hours. It took some chickens a while to figure out it was food, but now that I have been giving it a while, they all eat it pretty fast, except cooked rice, only the roosters seem to like it. Watermelon is gone in seconds
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and they still eat their grain at dinner time. The leghorns are laying me an egg a day until the earthquake- which I figure will be about a week before they get over that one!! (They were all screaming for an hour~
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) I just dont get why the Gold comets- or Production red- haven't layed yet, their combs dont even look mature, they people who sold them were Menonite so I assume they were honest about the age. Is this a problem? Am I doing something wrong? Can they not eat something I am giving them?? I would see a couple not laying, but all of them? I am prety sure no one is eating eggs, I will put an egg in there and noone touches it. HELP!
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Well free range is a broad term- the are enclosed within about 100 x 100 area with grass, just to keep predators out, and the fence gets moved every week so its fresh, everything can be seen though, so I don't think they are laying it outside, but good thought- thanks!!
 
Are they penned with an overly aggressive roo? My two girls started laying two weeks after I rehomed a real jerk of a rooster. They were a year old and I think they were just stressed.
 
I would have thought that the heat was the stress, but there is no rooster with them. They are with a New Hampshire red pair of females, They lay eggs, and I just put them in there about a 5 days ago- they haven't laid any eggs yet, but I figured they were just stressed from the move. The other girls were in by themselves before that
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