Will my chickens ever lay?

[Cyan Night]

Most of my girls started laying at around 24 weeks. The latest so far is my EE that's 39 weeks and still nothing yet. I'm in Arizona, it's not that cold but it does get dark fast so that's probably contributing to her not starting yet. I bet she would have started around now but since the daylight hours are shorter I think that interfered. Pretty sure she's just taking advantage of too, so I might have to start threatening her with a KFC bucket. You might get a few every now and then once they start getting better, but I wouldn't expect that many eggs weekly until the daylight hours get longer.

 

[jgibbens_com]

Hello! What a wonderful person you are to have TRULY SAVED those poor chickens. I am so please at how good you are to your chickens. Regarding chickens and eggs. Well.... usually.... If you get them in the spring, as chicks, it takes 6 months or so for them to start laying. However, it is also true that ALL chickens STOP laying in the winter (due to daylight savings time). Next year... your chickens will molt in the Fall (because they will be older)... meaning they will loose most of their feathers and re-grow new feathers. During this time, chickens will NOT have eggs. They need all their energy to re-grow their feathers (to be REALLY warm in the Winter). Now.... Back to your 'WHEN will they lay' question. As soon as the weather starts having MORE sun... chickens will start laying. (I don't recommend trying to light up the coop - some people try to do this. It's not good for the chicken. They need to rest to lay the rest of the year and often times... a coop catches on fire. I say... just don't do it). i.e. In the spring -- sometime... they will start to lay... The first day of spring last year was March 20th... so anytime after this day. There are other factors as well. For instance, are your birds 'egg layers' and 'meat birds?' To find this out, type the bred name in google and you'll find out a BUNCH of information about your bird. The last issue I want to address is food. To encourage your birds to lay as soon as possible, give them protein. But not too much though. If you give them too much.... they will get diarrhea. So start out with a handful in the morning and a handful in the evening. If you give them too much.... they will not eat their lay crumble. If they want more.... give them 2 handfuls in the morning and 2 handfuls in the evening. (But NO MORE than this amount). Also.... feed your chickens 16% Lay CRUMBLE not pellets. It's easier on a chicken to eat. A GREAT place to find food is at: Sams Downtown Feed in West San Carlos, San Jose (if you are close to this store). Tell Sam and/or Lisa.... Janet and Jon Gibbens sent you. We know them well! Okay. Now what EXACTLY is the best combination of protein. I put each of these in a container separately.... then mix when you are going to toss. I put the mixture in an old quart yogurt container. It's easy to disperse this way. The THREE items to buy are: (1) black sunflower seed (2) safflower seed and (3) large fish pond pellets. Protein will help chickens heal faster when molting. AND also, start laying faster as soon as Spring arrives. If you have a chicken not feeling well. Separate her and give her... either canned tuna with oil OR a can of catfood. These are REAL high quantity in protein. Never give this straight to all your chickens. They will FIGHT for it. You don't want to encourage fighting. Okay... I hope that answered your question. Good luck with your little girls and believe me.... you will JUST LOVE those EGGS!! It'll be worth the wait!! Keep us posted and ask more questions if you have anything else you are concerned about with your girls.

 

[RLG57]

So happy found a chicken feed my chickens love the eat all of it no waste , so happy it is fine chicken mash .

 

[VA Raptor]

Hi fellow Virginian!

Our adopted hen is getting unmedicated starter/grower from Southern States. She also has oyster shell on free-choice as well as sunflower seeds and occasional kitchen scraps. It took her about six weeks to start laying. The biggest mistake we made was not having enough water available for her.

We're a little south of you, but the SS feed seems to be better than TSC's Dumor if you can get it. There are also in-state options for organic feed if that is your desire.

Any pictures? Keep us posted how your young ladies are doing!

 

[song of joy]

Considering they were nutritionally deprived and physically stressed during their earlier development, this delay in laying is normal. To help them catch up, I would put them on a higher protein ration, like Purina Flock Raiser (20% protein). You'll have less feed waste if you use pellets rather than crumbles. You can use Flock Raiser long-term, as long as you provide supplemental calcium (like oyster shell) free-choice when they start laying. Personally, I like to give my hens a bit more protein than is found in layer ration, which is typically 16% protein. After they go through a bag of Flock Raiser, you could switch them to a 50:50 mix of Flock Raiser and layer ration to achieve 18% protein.

You did a very nice thing by adopting these birds, and I'm sure it won't be long before they start providing you with lots of eggs.

BTW, you do not need to provide light. In my experience, pullets that have been hatched in spring or summer will start laying in fall or early winter without any supplemental light, and will continue to lay through their first winter (again, without supplemental light). My RIR typically start laying around 24-25 weeks. Within a few months of starting to lay, they are each giving 6-7 eggs/week. If there are long-term effects from their earlier nutritional deficiencies, their rate of lay may be lower than this.

 

[spitfirecream15]

Hi chicnewbie6,
I'm so glad you were able to rescue those hens. Poor things they must be so happy now in their new home.
I have 5 Leghorns and 2 old english game banties and they are 7 months old, they just started laying about a week ago. I am feeding them whole wheat and leafy greens but they are laying well.
Hope they start laying soon!

 

[Henna56]

Thank you for saving them OMGoodness I do not like to hear about chickens not being fed or watered and cramped in small cages.

 

[Homie Ducks]

Yes they will. First they will take one or two weeks two get familiar with their new coop and surroundings. Then hopefully they will start laying by giving one day gap after one week they will lay regularly.

 

[UpNorthFlocker]

My coop is fully-enclosed and dark for the winter with the shutters closed to keep some of the cold out. I let my 14 chickens out every day, but I have two 6.5-watt LED light bulbs in the coop. They are on 12 hours each day (7a-7p) run by a cheap Christmas light timer. Works like a champ. Plenty of light, low heat, VERY low electrical consumption, and plenty reliable.

 

[Garjzla]

So I am new to having chickens ( My husband is not but I want this to be mainly my thing..lol)

My sister ( who never wants anything to do with the outdoors) got 6 chics the beginning of last spring. I think she thought it would be fun for my younger niece and nephew. But as the chicken grew bigger the fun went away and when they got no eggs she realized she didnt want them anymore. She nor my brother in law never really cared for the chickens, they would go several days without feed or water. and slept in a VERY small cage all crampped together. There was maybe 2 square feet of run for them.


So I convienced her to sell me her 6 hens. My husband and I spent all weekend building a very nice coop and a really big run. There are 6 nesting boxes, 2 perches and plently of laying feed and water for them.

So my question is, Any idea when I can expect them to start laying? Is there any feed better than the other that I can feed them? Right now I cam feeding them Dumor chicken laying crumble.

Any advice will be greatly appericated.

Thanks

That's awful! Poor guys! They'll probably start laying in the warm months.