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

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Squatting is a signal that a hen is ready to lay eggs and usually, the eggs will come soon after you see your hens start to squat - it has nothing to do with you rubbing her back, but has everything to do with the fact that she has reached sexual maturity (she's squatting for you because she thinks you are the rooster and she is letting you 'mate' with her). Your SS will start when she is physically ready also. Some pullets will squat for you and some won't (some are more submissive for their humans), but they will all lay just as many eggs whether or not you have a rooster (and whether or not you 'pet' them).

The light is another matter - increasing the light to 16 hours a day can definitely increase the amount of eggs you get from your pullets in the winter.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
Back rubs have nothing to do with egg laying. Squatting is a sign that the hen is sexually mature and about ready to lay. The squat is her signaling that she is ready to accept a mate, which also means eggs are forthcoming.

That is why the eggs came. She was squatting, so egg were already on their way, back rubs aside.

Agreed - I didn't see your post till after I posted mine.

 

[Wife With 2 Kids]

So roughly what age does a hen begin to lay eggs anyway?? Im guessing it depends on the breed? I have just discovered that my "Lady" is actually a "Laddy" as I have just been woken up to him trying to crow for the second morning in a row. Hes is 12 weeks old. Ive heard hens can crow too but as I have 7 unknown sexes and so far only 1 crower, I feel Lady must be a Laddy as he isn't copying off anyone else - he started it first.

Do hens try to crow too or does everyne think my 4 year olds favourite white leghorn chicken needs to go to my friends farm and away from suburbia??

 

[flocksalot]

Quote:
Most likely you have a little roo trying to show what a big boy he is. Another very notable clue to sex is the comb and wattles. Hens that young will have very pale and small combs, but a young mister is gonna have some red there. His wattles and comb will continue to grow, but even now his will stand out in the crowd. Hens again will be pretty yellowish or pale in comparison. Leghorn hens can start to lay pretty early. Pearly and Shirley our oldest Leghorns started between 13 and 15 weeks, but our later ones started around 16 weeks. Some hens will take their time maturing and won't lay until they are 30 weeks or more. Ball park? Well that's hard to say, but average is around 20 weeks I think.

 

[Wife With 2 Kids]

Thanks so much for your reply. I am now agreeing with you that she is actually a he - would it be ok if i posted picis of all 7 of my chickens to get some opinions in the sexes of them????

 

[speckledhen]

Wife With 2 Kids, I moved your pics into a thread in What Breed or Gender, entitled "What Sex are These?".

Link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=602460

 

[Wife With 2 Kids]

Oh thank-you so much, I was wondering how to post in my own thread - thanks so much again.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
To start your own thread you go to the forum main menu, select the Major topic you want to post your question in and at the top of page containing the entire list of threads under that topic are the words "start a new thread" or something like that, click that and it will give you a page to fill in which will start your own topic/thread of discussion.

Hope that helps, cuz sometimes you need your own thread to get answers quickly.

 

[emerald eyes]

I read the article and it appears to be a generalization of chicken behavior. It mentions stress as a factor in low egg production, but doesn't go into what you can do to eliminate the stress. I have 1 delaware & 2 buff orphs, all about 18 months old. I did notice some slowing in egg production by beginning of summer; however it was the fox & raccoon attacks (lost 7 hens) that really made me realize how many eggs the hens were laying (or not laying). Somehow, throughout the remainder of the summer (late July- August) they appeared to settle back to 1 egg at least every other day. I changed their habitat (got 30 new chicks) to a smaller pen size & coop. Initially, they started to lay underneath the coop, so I built a larger coop with separate laying boxes. By September, they were still laying at least every other day, this remained unchanged even through a molt.....until....cold weather hit. I combined the 25 young pullets/5 roosters with the mature hens, when the temperature started dropping below freezing (thought the small coop might be too drafty & only 3 hens..not enough body heat). Within 2 weeks....no more eggs. They were together during the day for about a month before fully intergrating them and forage together. Until about two weeks ago, the hens were usually off themselves (they forage much further than the pullets/roos), now they stay together, sometimes even cuddling up in the brush near the coup. I was thinking that adding the mature hens to the flock of youngesters freaked them out, but since they are getting along & cozy, now I am not sure. Could it be the roos (about 18/19 weeks old) trying to mate with them causing them to stress? Does their coop environment make a difference? I noticed my husband hasn't cleaned out the coop in about two months, the last eggs I plucked from the dirty coop floor (he reinstalled the nesting boxes two weeks ago) but he didn't clean out the coop. I try to stay on top of the food and water, but sometimes with 30+ in the coop, they run out (maybe for a few hours at most). My delaware is still squatting when I go to pick her up, but my buff orphs run away from me when they used to run up to me every day. I really want them to be happy chickens...they don't seem to be as cozy as they used to...but then again they saw over half of their friends get eaten by predators.

Is there anything that I could do to make them feel comfortable? Should I try to separate the hens & see if they start laying or remove the roosters?

 

[speckledhen]

Some stress is just a given in their lives, unfortunately. Molting is a stress, moving to a new coop is a stress, new birds in the flock shaking up the pecking order is a stress, too many roosters competing for mating rights, predators, etc., and it goes on and on.


All I can tell you is that if mine had a scare such as yours had, I'd keep them penned for awhile, even if they were used to free ranging. Keep them close to home. Clean out their coop and put down fresh shavings-mine seem to really like it after we clean it out. You don't say how big this coop is--is it too crowded? How many birds are in what size coop? Have you checked ammonia levels at their height?

Chickens really flock (pun not intended) to clean, fresh water-don't let it get murky and gross. Mine love it when the waterers have just been filled with cold, fresh water. I'd feed them extra protein in the form of canned salmon/ mackerel or scrambled eggs and vitamins for awhile (Avia Charge 2000 is a wonderful concentrate powder for birds you can order online-seems very expensive, but goes far). Just keep everything as low-key as possible. If the young roosters are all over the girls, competing with each other, could be you'll need to remove two or three of those.

There is no definite formula that I can give you, but that's what I would do in your position. Clean environment, good nutrition and an uncrowded, well-ventilated space go far in keeping overall stress down in a flock. When in doubt, go back to the basics.

Even when everything is right, sometimes, hens still take breaks. All you can do is provide the best environment you can and wait.