My chickens are not laying eggs

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My 2 brown chickens are not laying eggs. we got them about 2 months ago and they haven't laid a single egg. the supplier we got them from said they were about 20 weeks old. when we got them they had red mite but we have solved that. we were told that we need to put a light in there hutch to make the day longer for them so they lay more eggs, should we do this? also they don't look ill. our fend who told us about the supplier has got some from them and hes are laying at lest one egg a day. could some one advise what the best cause of action? is thanks Ian
 
hi Ian,

are your hens pure breeds or hybrids?Some hybrids are still laying,but a lot of pure breeds will have slowed down or stopped due to the decreasing day light hours.As yours haven't started laying yet,they will possibly start in the spring.as daylight hours increase and it gets milder.
Hens also don't lay apparently if they are overweight,some breeds do gain weight easier than others,so checking to see if they are not overweight would be good.
I suspect that the red mite problems you had stopped your birds from starting to lay,and,now,it is too dark, miserable and cooler for them to start.
If you bought them for their eggs,then adding artificial light in their house should get them to start laying.
That is how commercial (battery) hens are kept to make sure they lay.
 
If you do introduce artificial light in the hen house make sure you do actually give them some proper night also so they sleep. Its not good for them to have 24/7 light. They do need actual night also. Most people use timers and set them to come on a bit earlier and to go off a few hours after roosting so the birds still get a solid block of darkness.

You say you have a hutch though.If you do actually mean a 'hutch' not hen house then I don't see how you could put a light bulb in it safely so as to not be too bright or close to the hens.

I'd personally advise to be patient with them, give them a balanced diet, exercise etc and wait for nature to kick in in a few months. If they haven't come into lay yet, they will come the early spring I am sure.
 
Here is a tip that I have used through the years. I use 12 volt lights like are on a semi-truck and a 24 hour timer coupled with a battery. No heat and a low intensity light. A sealed battery like the solar fence chargers use make it an ultra safe set-up. And it's very portable too.

With the advent of the new L.E.D. lighting for cars that would be even better as they use way less energy to run.

You will be happier letting the hens rest through their first winter. Pullets coming into lay when young are more prone to health problems such as prolapse and calcium loss in the bones due to putting a shell on those eggs. When a mature bird starts laying they are not growing, laying and trying to keep warm all at once.
 
It seems to me that they are simply too young to have started laying with the hours of sunlight we currently have.

They will lay larger eggs in the spring. That is always better. If you introduce artificial light, they will start to lay but they will still need to take a rest at some point or they will get burnt out like battery hens.

The best thing you can do is wait until the spring. They will lay and they will lay bigger eggs.

I have 30 layers and I'm getting 1 to 2 eggs per day at the moment - this is due to the light and them taking a rest over the winter.
 
Thanks for the information. :D
I think i will wait until spring before putting a light in
 
If you are happy to wait till spring you won't need a light as the days will be longer and enough for them to come into lay and lay naturally without artificial light :)

If they are hybrids, they should lay well into the autumn also after that. I'd then let them go off lay for a while naturally to give their bodies chance to recover and await more eggs in the early spring.
 
I am in similar position. Thanks to the attentions of foxey loxey I lost quite a number of my flock of 20. I replaced with more mixed hybrids - white sussex, goldline, bluebelles etc. This was back in July. I got the POL chooks from two suppliers who I had dealt with before (good stock). Some of the darlings started laying within a week or two. However I have about 4 who have not developed the wattles or comb of a bird in lay.
They are definitely NOT laying. The rest of these free rangers are laying well even during these short days - 10 to 12 eggs a day.
It seems to me that they were not POL when purchased.
Would introducing a cockerel help?
I am not sure that previous replies are the answer i.e. "wait for spring". I have bought POL in Dec and they were laying within a few days.
 
Each bird is different. Some may come in to lay naturally in late autumn, early winter, others not. Birds tend to stop for a rest from laying over winter at some point, even hybrids I've owned lay far less. Even my best layers stopped or dropped in their egg production noticeably in the coldest darkest months in previous years. Also some of my pullets were in lay out of season, others not.

In my experience introducing a cock bird doesn't make any difference to hens laying. I've had pullets that don't seem to develop wattles or comb colour etc until the spring comes round. Usually if hatched later on, in summer I've found this to be more the case than those hatched in spring.

I am a great believer in letting birds naturally develop and come into lay in their own time. I don't expect my birds all to produce eggs in winter so tend not to worry if some don't lay until spring.
 
storminn said:
It seems to me that they were not POL when purchased.
Would introducing a cockerel help?
Click to expand...

POL is never usually actual 'Point of Lay' - usually a few weeks before. Breeders usually try to move birds on as quickly as possible to save money.
No, a cockerel will not help. He will usually maintain order and find food for the girls but has no effect on their ovulation / egg laying.

storminn said:
I am not sure that previous replies are the answer i.e. "wait for spring". I have bought POL in Dec and they were laying within a few days.
Click to expand...

Hybrid hens are bred to be laying machines - they have effectively been genetically selected for the most eggs. All birds come into lay in the spring naturally (like your average house sparrow). This is brought on by hormones produced in the body during the increasing daylight hours (via the petuitary gland in the eye).

Most pure breeds of hens have not had the genetic selection to produce the same number of eggs so will not start laying in the Autumn / Winter. Some of mine start and then stop in the darkest months.

New hybrid hens that are bought in the late summer will often come into lay (with smaller egg size) before the darker nights. They don't usually moult in their first year and will often lay over the winter. The next autumn or winter, after a season of lay, they will moult and stop laying.

The basis for battery farming is 18 hours of daylight (mid-summer) for 18 months, forcing the laying cycle to be almost twice what it normally is. This is why poor old Ex-bats are so 'egged out' .

You can add light to hens now and they will come into lay - but there are only so many eggs in a hens body and they need to rest at some point, either naturally or otherwise. Hens that come into lay naturally over the winter are a bonus but more often than not will stop sooner than others that start in the spring so either way, you aren't getting more eggs.

Hope this makes sense.
 
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