Why arent my hens laying yet?

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hi all i am new to this forum,
i am in desperate need of help!!! my hens (4) barbie, ken, shorts and boris(yes all ladies) i have had since wnd of april they were 6-8 weeks old...and still are not laying, all are different breeds, i have a beautiful buff orphington(ken), black rock(i think) boris!!....barbie..i am not sure what she is, and i also have an indian game chicken shorts, .......boris seems and has done for ages....her comb is big..her wibbly bits coming off her cheeks are big she looks and seems happy and healthy...but when will she start bloody laying..i have done the check...which my partner was disgusted in and she had plenty of room for an egg to come out... a good 2 fingers and a few weeks back i thought..yes this has to be it? but no!!
now they have a big home, and also are free in the days to rome around the gardem. i do have a staffy and whippet who do not bother them at all, ......
please can anyone give me any tips!
i am feeding them everything i should they get treats etc
ooo what i did think it could be, ... there coop is open all night into a seperate run to the big run. would it make a difference if they stayed in there beds longer in mornings?

i am new to all this chicken keeping, well apart from having them as long as i have done thats it, i am not form a family etc who keep them, i just thought it would be lovely for my family ...2 little girls to get the fresh eggs every morning and have beautiful chickens to have run around my garden... and in my house!!(sneaky buggers)
also i no i dont know all the right names of parts of them...i will do one day i am sure!
 
Hi Karly, welcome to the madhouse. Loved the 'wibbly bits,' I've got lots of them myself. (On chickens they're usually called wattles, on me it's just middle-age droop.)

If they were 6-8 weeks at the end of April, they would have hatched around the beginning of March, so are now about 27 weeks old, I expect. If you got them as chicks, it might have been difficult to sex them at 6-8 weeks, so are you absolutely positive they're all hens? (Boris and Ken don't sound as if they'll be laying any time at all, to me.....) This is perhaps a little bit late for none of them to have begun to lay, but not totally unusual. I've had several hens from time to time that have gone to 28 weeks. I've been raising a couple of chicks from the same age as yours and they've only just started to lay in the last couple of weeks, so hard though it is, if you're sure they're all females, you'll just have to be patient a bit longer. The days are getting shorter and this doesn't help, but I should think they'd make it before the ?Autumn really sets in. You must feel really pleased to have raised them all so far, and seen them develop, I know I'm a terribly proud Mum to my 2 young ones.

Are their combs bright red yet, and have they grown bigger combs? Another sign of imminent laying is when, if you run a hand over their backs, they crouch and spread their wings, as if hoping a cockerel will come along for a bit of nookie. i'm not sure about the finger-up-the-bum test, at least I've never made it work. the best it can tell you is whether they're soon going to lay, and you know that anyway, don't you? (Don't you? Yes, you do!)

Have you ever wormed them with Flubenvet? If not, a course of this will be needed anyway before the winter, and if they've picked up any worms in their free ranging, it may help them improve their condition and boost them into laying. (If not sure about giving Flubenvet, ask another question maybe.) Free range chickens love eating earthworms, yuk, and these are a good source of protein, but can also contain the eggs of other sorts of wortms which live in chickens' guts, and these are the sort you need to treat with Flubenvet every 6 months. I wonder exactly what you are feeding them - layers pellets, I expect, but do go easy on the treats if these are household scraps as they'll fill up on goodies just like kids will, and then have less room for the nourishing stuff they really need, ie their pellets. You might also try adding Apple Cider Vinegar to their drinking water (a weak solution at first until they get used to the taste) as this is another good tonic. Have you checked the coop for redmite infestation? this is another thing which can pull a chicken down as the little mites come out at night and suck the birds' blood and they can become anaemic as a result. (I'm so glad I'm not a chicken!) If you don't know about how to check this, again do ask.

I think you're right to leave the pophole open at night, until it gets really cold, eg in November, so they can get up when their own rhythm tells them to. A lot of us would feel better if we could do this! No I don't think a lie-in would help, they're not likely to sit there twiddling their wings and thinking 'Now what can I do to pass the time until breakfast? I know, I'll try laying an egg!'
 
The thing thats jumping out at me is are they laying in the garden and your dogs enjoying the free snack!

Apart from that if they are in good health and free from parasites they will lay when they are good and ready and not a moment before.
 
hi thank you both for you reply, ken and and boris were named by my partner as this is a full household of 'girls' me and 2 daughters, and my bitch poppet, so olly(my partner) and our dog is totally out numbered... haha not only that the girls helped us name them and at 4 and 2 they dont really no the difference lol!
they are all defo hens!
i am going to have to sit tight really and be patient, i mean if we had bought them to 'giveus eggs' we would have bought pol's we wanted them really as pets and have the bonus of fresh eggs,
i have asked around, everyone keeps saying the same 'they will lay in there own time' i feed them everything i think they need and yeah they are fed on layers.
i am a bit of a soft touch and do give them alot of treats starting in the morning with the crusts off the sandwiches for lunch boxes...maybe from now on i will save untill later,
iam going to sound really gross now but i have notices sometimes there poo is a bit...'runny' and other times it hard(normal)...
i have checked them for mites... and no nothing, i am wondering if next doors cats are irritating them as often i see them sat on top of the coop...
they make so much noise..more so than i thought(and no defo not cocks-or cockerels noise)
i am hoping any day soon they will lay...
i wanted them to be more friendly and after visiting long distant relative who had quite a collection of layers, they were feeding them daily chucking in a bucket full at a time, so instead of the feeders which they seems to be sat next to all day long and not furrage(wrong word i no) i decided to do the same which i find quite cute when i shake the tin and they follow me round untill i throw it down and they even eat from mine and my childrens hand!
i am meant to get quite a selection of colours and sized eggs...blue white and normal..looking at my indian game bird i cant imagine her passing through a large one...and if she does i am not suprised she is not laying haha! so i am sure hers will be on the smaller size,
i will however keep you all posted, i may...once i have figured it out upload a pic of the one i dont know what breed she is..
she is silvery gold colour, with a tuft of feathers off her head, white 'cheeks', i no she is not a frizzle?
in fact we went to garden centre a while back and they had a few of her, i took menta,l note of what she is then got home....and totally forgot, if anyone could shed light on it, polish...or poland springs to mind, but googling it ...she doesnt look much like one!
many thanks :-)17
 
oh also, no ah ha my dogs arent eating the eggs... i dont tend to let them out untill luchtime..ish , if at all i work two days so those days they are kept in...they do have a big run...i just let them out for a stretch and a rummage... so i am thinking...its not my dogs...in fact if i put an egg infront of them theyd just walk on by... haha they are not the cleverest.. in fact my whippet jumps and runs off when a chicken moves in front of her haha, its my staffie(as everyone says how nasty they are) not mine....o no he lies by there coop/run and sunbathes lay next to them and they do not bother him in the slighest. haha funny to see...in fact the buff is the cutest 'ken'... she walks up bald as brass and swipes both the dogs and they dont bat an eyelid..mind you ken is a bit of a beast!! not of the smallest selection of hens!!
 
karly said:
i feed them everything i think they need and yeah they are fed on layers.
i am a bit of a soft touch and do give them alot of treats starting in the morning with the crusts off the sandwiches for lunch boxes...maybe from now on i will save untill later,
iam going to sound really gross now but i have notices sometimes there poo is a bit...'runny' and other times it hard(normal)...
17
Click to expand...

If you want to get them laying, you are going to harden your heart, Karly. You really need to STOP giving them ANY crusts etc at ANY time of day, as these are nutritionally useless to hens and if they're filling up on stuff like this, they're not getting what they need to grow on to the point of having enough resources in their bodies to produce any eggs. If I were you, I would keep them in their run for most of the day, maybe let them out for an hour or two in the afternoon, after they've had a chance to fill up on pellets. Be really hard-hearted and just give them pellets throughout the day, (plus small amounts of greenstuff such as cabbage stalks and trimmings etc) If you want to give them treats in order to make them tamer, forget giving anything you would eat, and just feed a little bit of wheat-based chicken corn (the sort with maize in is too fattening) or maybe a few hulled sunflower seeds, which are good as they are high in protein. Give a maximum of one SMALL eggcupful per hen per day. Measure it out, then put it in a plastic box so it rattles, so you know that's their ration of treats for the day and won't be tempted to give an extra handful. Then they'll follow you around in the garden like little dogs.

As for the poos, it's completely normal for hens to do runny ones about one every 8-10 goes. i think these are called Caecal poos and it's something to do with them shedding spare bits of their digestive system, (can't remember what but I expect someone else will be able to explain better.) So long as their bum feathers are clean and they're not doing runny poos all the time, they're OK. If they do get diarrhoea and dirty backsides, you need to treat it ASAP of course.

Don't worry - it sounds to me as if your girls are basically fine, let's hope they come up with the goods before too long!
 
Hi, welcome to the forum, as marigold said, madhouse!! :D :-)99 :-)99 :-)99
good advice above, diofferent breeds of Chickens lay at different times, hybrids lay earlier than most bantams, for example.
 
Orpingtons and Indian Game are not noted for their laying ability and may not lay until the spring, especially as the days are getting shorter fast. If your other one is a Black Rock, she should be laying by now so I suspect she might be something else.

Sounds like you're not doing anything wrong but you could give up the treats for a while to see.
 
hey all sorry i have not replied recently ive been so busy now that my kids are back at school however......i came home today and checked and well...... I HAVE FINALLY GOT AN EGG!!! a small blue one...which is i think from my silver one, me and the girls(my kids) are so chuffed!! but...can you eat the first one!!!???

as for the comments about the buff and indian game i think you are right they dont seem 'ready'
Also about only letting them out for a few hours i think u are right, also they are totally messing up my garden...and kicking the soil all over the place, there run is more than big enough so for now they will be in there and perhaps let them out an hour or so before it starts to get dark,
many thanks for all off your comments!!!
 
Haha I don't no I think it will be a fight in the morning I bough some duck eggs last week from a local farmer which have been sooo tasty but while cooking them on Sunday for the family for breakfast I cracked one open and the smell was disgusting so I quickly smashed into a bowl and a tiny carcus fell out... Which has put me off duk eggs for good... Untill one day I will get my own ducks to lay! Therefore a fresh chicken egg will put me back on my fried egg on toast!! Haha I just can't wait for the morning! I may even get another??? We will see
 
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