Laying hens

[country squire]

 I recently purchased 6 adult hens (hamburgs) I think and a dozen aracuana young hens.  I have had them for over two weeks and no eggs.  Any advice or suggestions??

[fungusmunkey]

How old are they?

They won't start laying until 4-6 months old depending on breed. 

I've noticed big differences between breeds and how early they will start laying.

ETA:

ALso they might be laying someplace you don't know about if they free range or have hidey spots.  If one starts laying in a strange place others sometimes do as well.

[country squire]

So far they have been penned and have a very small run, so I dont believe they are hiding the eggs anywhere.

6 of the hens are huge and I feared they may be worn out.  If I get a rooster will that help egg production?

[WeedEater]

Americuanas take longer to lay....deal with it.

No personal experience with Hamburgs, but in general:

• Make sure hens receive adequate nutrition, especially wild greens
  Make sure hens have adequate space, up to 4' feet per bird if possible, absolute minimum would be 1 square foot per
  Make sure hens have adequate light, optimum is 14 hours, doesn't matter if artificial or not, more than 14 you risk cannibalism
  Make sure they have clean water every day and lots of it
  Make sure they are free from parasites (check poop and vents)
  Make sure they are free from diseases ( a little more difficult if not obvious)
  Make sure nest boxes are a sufficient size and in a darkened, warm, protected area that can't be roosted over

I've heard various reports about roosters, but never had hens without them.  You could do a forced molt, but my feeling on your situation is that you just have young chickens.  Try a "seed egg" like a golf ball or plastic egg in the nest boxes to get them going.  Golf balls are good if snakes are a worry.  Lots of chicken posts on here, or if you really want to blow your mind, fry your eyeballs on http://www.backyardchickens.com/

Good luck!

[Emeline]

Roosters with hens will generally cause a decrease in egg production.  At least that is what our family has experienced.  They tend to often upset the hens, though I'm sure that would be less true if the free range area was extremely large.

It sure seems odd that not a single one of them has laid, especially the young ones.  When I get my pullets from the poultry farm I normally buy them from they actually lay eggs in the vehicle on the way home! 

If they have plenty of food, water, etc it seems odd that not a single hen has laid.  Are you sure they couldn't be eating the eggs? Something else eating the eggs?

I'm not familiar with those breeds myself but as general comment IF they are "fancy breeds" (not sure if they are there or not) I've tended to find myself the fancier breeds I have kept are generally poor layers.  Someone else might be able to help you out with some personal experience with those breeds though.

Or - my other thought would be just give them some time.  Moving is stressful for many animals.  Maybe they just need some time to settle in and start laying eggs.

Good luck.

[Grower]

Size doesn't matter. Age does. No hen lays much before 20 weeks. My auracanas are just now laying and they were born May 16. I'd recommend you ask the person you bought them from how old they are.

My hens have never been bothered by roosters, in terms of egg production. But you do NOT need a rooster if you aren't interested in the hens hatching their own broods.

Hens do slow way down on laying and some stop altogether from Nov. to February. The days are short. Optimum light for laying is 14 hours.

It may be simply that you have old hens. But even my 2-year-old girls would lay every other day or so, and some were still very regular. I'd give it time for them to get settled in, first. Then see about putting a light bulb on a timer.

[Suspect Zero]

Yes and relocating them usually puts a stop to egg production for a period of time.

I'm not aware of any female living thing that needs a male around to produce eggs. Humans included... 

[Xenopus]

Size doesn't matter. Age does. No hen lays much before 20 weeks. My auracanas are just now laying and they were born May 16. I'd recommend you ask the person you bought them from how old they are.

Wow, that is late. Mine hatched April 21 and have been laying for nearly 2 months--including the green egg layers, although they did start slightly later than the brown egg birds.

[Chickengirl]

Yes and relocating them usually puts a stop to egg production for a period of time.

I'm not aware of any female living thing that needs a male around to produce eggs. Humans included... 

There are a couple of species where the female needs to mate to stimulate the release of an egg can't remember what they are, though.


How was the move? If it was stressful for them, then it will put them off the lay for a little bit. Also age, the amount of protien they are getting - we had a period of low egg production when I first got chooks, and we upped the protien in their food, as they were not getting enough. Ditto for calcium.

I'd say you need to give them more time - often when people sell "point of lay" chooks they are not quite as close to laying as you would think 

We've moved chooks around before, and I always assume it will be anywhere between 4-6 weeks before we start seeing eggs,  especially if I'm not certain of ages.

We've had no problems with egg production with a rooster - but I wouldn't bother getting a rooster if you aren't going to breed. The only time we had rooster issues was when we had some young roosters that were due to go in the freezer, and they used to gang up on the chooks - they had a few favourites, so those girls went off the lay. The roosters went into the freezer pretty damn quick!

[unrepentantcowboy]

Have they lost their tail feathers? They may be in a moult.

[Grower]

Some of mine are in moult.

I also lost 6 hens and a rooster early this morning to a mink. The door is reinforced now and the new electric netting is up. Anybody know how to trap mink?

Effing thing didn't even eat any.

[urbanfarmer]

Oh Grower! That's terrible! 

Some of my girls are moulting so they are not laying and are sticking to themselves. A few patches of missing feathers and the other hens start drawing blood very quickly. I am not expecting them to lay much this Winter, but after the moult is over, they will start laying again.

[Xenopus]

Ouch, Grower, that really sucks. How do you know it was a mink?

[Emeline]

Oh damn, sorry Grower.    That's too sad.

[Suspect Zero]

Weasels are the worst. They kill just to kill.