[barbera]

I bought four pol hens from a reputable breeder 3 weeks ago.

One was laying already, and the other of the same breed looked ready to (comb and hen the same size as the laying hen).

Since they arrived, the one chicken laid a beast of an egg the first day, then normal ones for the next three days.

Then NOTHING!

None of the hens look ill. the bedding and hens have been mite dusted. they are all eating and drinking, and talking.

They are enclosed in a large run for their own protection (city foxes- grrr!).

Anyone have any ideas please??

[alancane]

Hello Barbera,

Welcome to the forum. My own experience with my ladies was similar - 4 weeks down the line and I still hadn't got any eggs apart from one. 5 weeks after getting my ladies, they started laying and have continued to do so since.
Even though they are sold as POL, it can still be a few more weeks/couple of months until they start laying regularly.  Give them some time and soon enough you will be getting your daily eggs.

I hope Normandymary adds to this as she was waiting for quite a few weeks also for hers. Have a scroll through the different topics and you will see that you are not alone.

I presume you are feeding them layers mash or pellets and giving them grit and oyster shell?

[barbera]

What a relief!!
These are the second batch of chickens i have had, and the last lot all started together a month in.
I was/am concerned that one was laying, but seemed to completely stopped.
The girls are indeed fed on a diet of  good quality scraps. pellets and grit.

[Casey76]

Hi Barbera, scraps/treats should account for only approximately 5% of the diet.  The other 95% should ideally be a compund layers pellet (or mash).  this ensures that the pullets are getting the correct amount of nutrients, vitimins and minerals for good health, and strong eggs.

In addition the layers, they should also have free access to grit (to help grind the food in the gizzard) and oystershell (for calcium for good shell production).

The other thing to note, is that with the nights drawing in, even if pullets are sold as POL, they may not lay until next spring, once the days start to get longer again.

[beth123]

Hi Barbera, do you struggle to get your hens to eat the grit? I do so have been mixing it in with their pellets, hope thats the right thing to do.

[Casey76]

Hi Beth, the grit should be available separately from the pellets, and the hens will eat only what they need to

[beth123]

Right, thanks for that.

[PaulineM]

Hi   
I have my hens 7 weeks now and only 3 out of the 6 are laying.
One welsummer laid a lovely big egg 3 days after she got here and not another one since. 
I have just resigned myself to the fact that they may not hit their stride now until the spring. Maybe they will surprise me tho!

[daisy1990]

and mine are all 24 weeks old and not an egg between them!