Why Aren't My Chickens Laying? Here Are Your Answers!

[Buff Hooligans]

Quote:
But I keep emptying my wallet in their direction...

 

[pnuts]

i was wondering if my hens were stressed because i have only been getting 2-3 eggs a day out of 11 hens. there are a few smart rats in the barn that i cant seem to kill with traps so i thought maybe they were pestering the chickens and stressing them out maybe? they had heat lamps all winter and were laying fine until a couple of months ago. they have more room than most chickens and they get to play outside and i keep it clean. they also have access to food and water all the time. i dont think they are molting but maybe?

 

[pnuts]

also they do like to eat eggs but i didnt think they knew how to crack them themselves:[ unless they learned

 

[DDRanch]

Great article. Thank you SpeckledHen.

 

[leanna1017]

Thanks for taking the time to post the link. I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

 

[flocksalot]

Great article. I think that the most important thing to remember is that not all chickens mature at the same time.........just like people. Remember those girls that developed early, and then there were the rest of us that were called a carpenters dream

Man I hated that term! Last summer one of my hens went really really broody. You know the kind they puff up so hugh when you even look in the nest at them that the completely fill up the nest box. And their growly scream can be herd by all.

Well we (I) broke down and let her hatch some chicks. She killed the first baby, but hey who wouldn't get jumpy with something wiggling under them. She hatched out 6 more 3 boys and three girls. One of the girls was killed by a cat, but the rest have grown to adulthood. They were hatched around 8/15. The boys are all frisky and Harriet the youngest (I had to help her hatch) started laying early Feb, but her sister Charlotte just sat up high and looked so sad.

Well we were given 36/ 3 month old pullets, so I put Charlotte in with them. This way she wasn't on the bottom of the pecking order. I also put her rabble rousing brothers in with them as they had way outgrown the younguns house. The pullets are now about 4 1/2 months, so they may start laying any day, but today my little baby girl Charlotte layed her very first egg! It's a beautiful little green egg. Her sister, Harriet's, is very bright blue. I have no idea what farmyard blend these chickens were as they were given to us, but there has got to be some easter egger in there somewhere. From the six possible mothers we had two pastle pink, two pale green, one bright blue, and one brown with speckles. I'm thrilled to have another easter egger and very proud of my sweet little girl. One thing I have noticed over the years is that the chickens that start early tend to slow down early and also tend to have smaller eggs. Of course that may just be the farmyard blends we usually have, but my 8RIRs did the same. Julie started laying early and her egg is half the size of Rosie's. So I vote to keep rooting for them no matter how long it takes.

 

[Fyrekitten]

HOW COOL! I didn't realize they laid pink eggs too! I only thought it was in the blue, blue green and green spectrums. But that shows just how much I know!

 

[flocksalot]

Quote:
The Easter eggers lay blue/green eggs, but my chickens aren't true easter eggers. They are a farmyard blend that I got from someone else. What their parentage is I have'nt a clue.

The roo looks like a Welsummer, but with a little fuzz on his legs. The hens look like Partridge Rocks, but some have rose combs and some have green to slate legs, while some have some feathering on their legs. When Charlotte hatched we thought she looked like she had bellbottomed pants on. When they started laying eggs I was very surprised, but also delighted. My son absolutely loves the easter eggs all year long.

But then he also loves his brown eggs too! The pink are actually considered a shade of brown, but boy are they pink next to any of my RIR eggs.

 

[Alpha Chick]

Hi,

Just thought I would mention that the link appears to have been moved or removed.

 

[Altoncoop]

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/20763/pnw565.pdf

This is the new link for the article seems that Oregon changed servers