Still no eggs!

Pony Girl

Pony Girl

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Am I the only person in the world to have chickens that have never laid an egg?

Mabel, Phantom and Flo (pekin bantams) will be a year old in April. They seem extremely happy, and healthy - bright red combs, no sign of mites. They free range in our garden during the day, have layers pellets with a small bit of cod liver oil added, plenty of fresh water with ACV, and have been carefully wormed every 3 months. They seem to love their new hen-house, which no longer leaks, but still have never laid an egg between them.

Everyone keeps saying they'll start once daylight hours have increased, but I can't help wondering if it will ever happen for me! Our little garden tends not to get direct sunlight until a little later in the year when the sun is higher in the sky. Do you think this could be the problem?
 
They will lay when they feel like it - pekins are never fast to get going! Just check , if they are free ranging , that they havent decided to lay a huge pile of eggs somewhere very hidden like the depths of a prickly hedge- they love doing this! Ros :lol:
 
lol some of mine are laying and some not and some laid for a while then stopped. they will lay eventually.
How old are they ?
 
hi pony girl,
my 1st pekin hen I got last september,she was 6 months old then.She has just started to lay in the last week.
Mine does lay in her nest box/hen house,but could just be copying the others she lives with.Yours are either laying somewhere they feel safe in the garden,or are going to start any day soon.
I do find pekin eggs 'buried' in their houses,seem to cover them well,so I do dig into the shavings to find them......carefully avoiding pekin poop ;) .
 
One of my pekins,(Squeak who is 9 months old) didn't seem to be laying. Turned out she was, but hidden away in a box in a storage area near our neighbour's stables. Goodness knows how many eggs she's laid there, unfortunately I can't get to them so they're all going to waste. I suppose the little darling will go broody on them one day, being a pekin, and then I'll have to get the neighbours to extract her.

Any ideas on persuading hens to lay in the right place ? We've got a lovely henhouse with two nest boxes, our other hen lays there every day and Squeak has done once or twice too when she's been locked up all day. She certainly knows where the nest boxes are, she sleeps in them every night :roll:
 
Ours sleep in their nestbox too, one on top of the other. I'm pretty sure there are no eggs stashed anyway, but I'll try for an early Easter egg hunt round the garden when I get home!

In the last couple of days Mabel has started squatting down when I go to stroke her, I don't know if this is a sign she's 'coming into season' so to speak? I let them out at 6.30 this morning, and they were on their way back up to bed when I left for work at 7.30, so maybe they're thinking about egg laying, rather than a lie-in.

I've started dreaming about eggs now - is this a bad sign?!! :lol:
 
If you havent had any by next weekend we will all pop over and have a proper easter egg hunt in your garden!! :lol: Ros-
 
dawn said:
I suppose the little darling will go broody on them one day, being a pekin, and then I'll have to get the neighbours to extract her.

She must have been reading my posts. For the last two days we/our neighbour have had to fish out a very indignant little hen. We found her sitting on 16 eggs (sorry Pony Girl, and she looks just like one of yours too, silver partridge.) :)
Click to expand...
 
16 eggs?!! WOW! Now you're just trying to make me jealous! Easter egg hunt at mine it is then!! :D

There is definitely something a-foot with my three, which makes me think that egg laying could me imminent! A week or so ago Mabel started 'squatting', tail up, flat back, wings spread when I went to stroke her. On Saturday Flo started doing the same thing. She had her back to me on her perch, and was kind of pushing her vent out...I thought an egg was going to pop out there and then! ha ha :-D :lol: They have also made a very definite nest shape in the straw in their nestbox (where they normally sleep). This morning Flo wouldn't come out of the nestbox while the others got up, and kept pecking me when I tried to clean it out, so I left her to it. Of course, she could just be being grumpy because the weather seems to have changed again...

Mabel is getting extremely noisy - she was going off like a siren yesterday afternoon, so I don't know what that's about. She's the smallest of the three but has seemed to have taken on the role of lead hen recently. Has anyone else noticed their hens getting noisier with the coming of spring?

Do chickens lay at night or is it just during the day? How long does it take to lay an egg?!
 
Hi,

Our Pekins became very vocal a few days before the onset of laying. Both had been with us a week, and laying has varied since then (12.02.10). Sometimes they lay each day, or every other. However, they both do it entirely independently, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They then sit and cogitate for anything up to 2 hours! When they have laid, prepare yourself for the triumphant announcement.....

I must add though that our third Pekin hasn't laid yet, she too seems ready, showing the signs like yours. She does however keep going in the next box to sit, getting used to the idea I guess.

Oh and prepare yourself for that first egg, I shamefully cried.....such a miracle, they are such very clever little things.
 
Just got a phone call from hubby-to-be: Flo's laid her very first egg!!!! :D

Hooray!! I'm so proud! :-) At last!! Wish I could have been there, feel like an absent parent!
 
Hi,

A proud moment indeed- Hope unlike me, you can actually eat the eggs. I have just about gotten used to the idea of having them in a quiche!

NO- Ours announce they are thinking of laying, about to lay, and then they have laid. At first the racket sounded like a distress call, so we would go out and talk to them, which did calm them down somewhat. This mornings announcement has been very noisy indeed. Just checked on her and she is still sitting there.... three hours later, but as you say some of that may ber due to lack of incentive to come out in the rain.

As for neighbours, yes it is a concern, and we think we are ok, especially as our immediate neighbour has a very "barky" dog, which when left alone does nowt but complain. so if they dare to say anything, well you can imagine. Sometimes I think our girls sound like young cockerals, it is that loud, thank goodness for the background noise of the A50!

Oh and we also find that the noisiest girl proudly makes her announcements when standing on the hen house ramp,which thankfully is the other end of the garden.

Maybe you have neighbours who would appreciate some of your precious eggs? As my OH says each egg we give away has now come down to about £8 per egg (after an expensive 6 weeks).

Enjoy!
 
:lol: :lol: :lol: Yes, I can sympathise, mine are down to about £50 each now :lol: :lol: & we're now going to have to redo the roof of the run because it only just held up the weight of the snow. :o Don't mind though, better that than being eaten by Foxy :evil:

Well done to your little 'uns PG, the others will soon follow. The first one is sooo exciting :)
 
An egg, how lovely at last - you'll have to rename this thread Pony Girl. As for my Squeak, she's given up trying to sit on the now disposed off eggs but has stopped laying........ :)
 
Hens do have distinct calls for egg laying,the announcement to say they are going to lay,which is loud.After,the celebration call.This call is always answered by my cockerels,and occasionaly another hen.
This is an instinctive call,to keep in touch with the rest of the flock.
When hens were wild(jungle fowl),when a hen laid,she ran the risk of being left behind by her flock,so could lose them.Hence the calling.
To me, the calls sound the same,but,there is a slight variation.
The distress call,is taken up by all the hens.Once you've heard it,you'll recognise it every time.They all stand stock still,heads up and bellow as loud as possible.It is truly unmistakeable,and,if you're at home,will run like mad to them.
Once I've checked there is no fox/buzzard/strange dog,I give them a small amount of corn to distarct them.
Some definitely do calm down at seeing me,and me talking to them,other's are more cautious and continue bellowing.
 
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