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

[Cass]

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Yup, you're gonna have eggs soon. Those are ALL the right signs. Yes, those first eggs are called pullet eggs and yes, they will get bigger as time goes on. Well, unless they are bantam sized hens, then "bigger" is relative. 18 weeks is the perfect age to start laying, with 20 - 22 weeks being more typical. I saw someone who posted that they had a hen not lay it's first egg until it was 10 months old and was threatened with the stock pot. LOL

Enjoy the fresh eggs.

 

[Cass]

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Might be a genetic thing, the not laying. Sounds like one for the stew pot.

 

[donnavee]

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Might be a genetic thing, the not laying. Sounds like one for the stew pot.

Couldn't do that - besides, being a Campine, there isn't a whole lot of meat there. We have resigned ourselves to her being a free loader.

 

[speckledhen]

Most every hen begins laying at some point. Patience, grasshopper.

I've had a couple begin at almost a year old, but they are two of my very best layers, even at 3 years of age.

 

[Cass]

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A YEAR!!!

They go in the stew pot at 6 months at my house. Unless they are one of my favorites. Or have really nice coloring. Or are good broodies. Or I paid a lot for them Or they were free. Or are one of my Marans. Or one of my D'uccles. Or one of my silkies. Or one of my Olive Eggers.

 

[ozarkmomma]

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A YEAR!!!

They go in the stew pot at 6 months at my house. Unless they are one of my favorites. Or have really nice coloring. Or are good broodies. Or I paid a lot for them Or they were free. Or are one of my Marans. Or one of my D'uccles. Or one of my silkies. Or one of my Olive Eggers.

LOL you sound like me. I have one hen that was injured by a dog, no clue if she lays or not. On the other hand, with 24 hens, how do you know who lays and who doesn't? I will keep them all to a ripe old age and add new chicks every year or so. I will even keep the old ladies when they get too old to be productive.

 

[AbbyDog]

Ok, I have to chime in. My well-fed totally spoiled & catered to 6 girls are just two years old this month. Two are laying almost every day (a Delaware and a Barred Rock), one every other day (Americauna), one now lays once every week or two after a 3 month hiatus (another Americauna) and then we have the RR that just gave up laying back in January and hasn't thought about it since. She walks around with a far-away look in her eye. My poor Welsummer that successfully recovered from crop-surgery last fall hasn't laid since February and I think she is internal laying - showed all the symptoms and looked like she was dying two months ago but now seems better. But she is not producing an egg- and I miss her beautiful dark brown eggs...

In desperation over the low production, I have bought 4 new chicks but that means that I am going to have to make some tough decisions about who gets to stay once they are large enough to go into the coop.

If only my yard space was unlimited!

 

[Cass]

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Have you tried walking around with a stock pot saying "here chickie chickie"?

Might get them serious about laying.

 

[kdmburnett]

boy, is this a sore subject! i just did the calculations to compare with last year, which was the first season of production for these hens and for april thru june so far, production is down 25-35% over last year! we've looked everywhere for eggs, gathered throughout the day to eliminate predators, and cannot figure out what the problem might be. they seem to show some signs of moulting right now , but for the past two to three months.. really? anyway, we are stumped... any other suggestions? note; the only change has been feeding them some grains from a local brewery. will stop now to see if that changes things........

 

[Cass]

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On another thread I was complaining about my girls going from 3-4 a day to NOTHING for a week. I listed what I was feeding them. The reply from people far more experienced than I was "commercial chicken feed was formulated for max production and is all your hens need to eat. Anything extra you feed them (treats and scratch grains) takes away from their appitite for their commercial feed, much like eating potato chips before dinner would do to you" Well, the worm supply dried up (literally) and I stopped saving them food from my dinner plate and production went back up. (Then my best layer went broody, but that's a topic for another thread)

But it didn't go back up immediately. It took over a week of straight feed before I got my first egg again.