I have 3 buff orpington hens and 1 buff orpington cockeral in one of my chicken houses. They are all around 5 months old and havent started laying yet! Buff orpingtons are meant to lay through the winter but mine seem not to. They have a diet of mixed grains mixed grits layers pellets and whatever they find in the garden (grass leaves insects...) Ive had them since they were 6 weeks old and they are extremely tame and used to being handled. They do spend alot of time roaming freely around the garden butdont appear to be hiding eggs or going broody. Even when I'm at school and they stay in their run there's still no sign of any eggs. If they are hiding them though then correct me if im wrong but doesnt the cockeral normally get into the nesting box and encourage them to lay there? I also have 5 other chickens, 3 light sussex miniatures that are still laying and 2 very old bantams that have retired :D Any help would be appreciated.

 

Tom. 

 Hey Tom,

Being a pure breed, they can take  a while to start laying. Their only about 20 weeks old, & could take up to 30 weeks to start laying. Also the short daylength this time of year doesn't help as light stimulates them to lay. Have the pullets faces & combs started to redden yet & do they squat for the cockeral as these are signs they are close to start laying.

 

Regards,

David. 

 Hi David, thanks for the information. One of the hens has a much redder face than the other two and all of the hens are fighting between themselves. The cockeral does seem to be the top of the pecking order although he isnt as bossy as I would have expected, as cockerals ive had in the past have been quite aggressive. Do you mean squat as in where they open their wings slightly and almost bow down?  as my other chickens do this when I go to pick them but the Buff Orpingtons dont. I assumed this was just because they were tamer and used to being handled.

Thanks again,

Tom. 

 Hey Tom,

Being tamer & used to being handled shouldn't stop them from squating (or presenting themselves is the technical phrase!) Their probably not ready yet & by the sound of it still trying to sort their own pecking order out. I had a couple of buff orpington cockerals years ago & they were never very aggressive like a lot of the other breeds but still fathered plenty of chicks.

Regards,

David.

Be patient, my friends have buff orpingtons and they are well past 7 months and not laying yet, pure breeds do seem to be a lot later to start, but on the plus side they will still be going strong when the hybrids are long gone.  Sounds as though they have a lovely life and will start rewarding you soon.

 ok thank you both forthe information.

Tom. 

An excellent way to check if pullets are coming into lay, or indeed, laying away from home, is to slide a hand down the breastbone [underneath the bird], fingertips towards the vent,until 2 or 3 fingers slip between the prominences of the pelvic bones. 2 fingers and stiff pelvic bones indicate no laying,3 fingers and flexible bones indicate laying in progress. You may have to adjust these criteria slightly depending on the size of your fingers and the breed of your hens.

 This simple,quick technique is also useful for checking who is "earning their keep"and who is being "a pasenger"!

Goog comment on chickens, it works a treat. could you comment on turkeys?

Hey Tom, was just wondering if your buff orpingtons have started laying yet? Hopefully they have with the longer day lenght!

 

Regards,

 

David.

 Hi David

yes they have! they layed the first egg on christmas eve. They are now laying around 2 a day on average between the 3 of them, and the cockrel is keeping busy too! I may have to get another house built over the easter holidays for any chicks that hatch over the summer.

Tom

Thanks I found this very useful as I have just inherited a 14 week Buff Orpington to join my 4 bantam cross ladies. However she has no comb to check for colour, how can I tell if she is ready to lay when the time comes. Incidentally my bantams are still laying intermittently even though we are in mid winter here in the Falkland Islands. As it's my first full year with these is this normal??

 

Slide a hand down the breastbone [underneath the bird], fingertips towards the vent,until 2 or 3 fingers slip between the prominences of the pelvic bones. 2 fingers and stiff pelvic bones indicate no laying,3 fingers and flexible bones indicate laying in progress. You may have to adjust these criteria slightly depending on the size of your fingers and the breed of your hens. Winter laying is norml here in England so i shouln't worry too much about it. alternatively, your cock might be encouraging your hens to squat or lay inside the hen house.

 Hi There... Im new to chickens but I seem to have accumulated 12 over a short period of time. I bought 4 Rhode Island hens at 17 weeks and after 3 weeks I was getting 4 eggs a day. I introduced 2 Nova's (cross between Rhode Island, Light Sussex and some french bird), 2 silkie/light sussex crosses.... then I was given a black rock, another rock of some sort and a maran all laying when they arrived. I also have 2 light sussex cockrells bought as hens but now look like vulchers!!! They all differ in ages from 20 weeks to 2 years. Two weeks ago, Mr Fox got one when they were free ranging so I have kept them in their coop and run til my partner and I build a run this weekend. Since introducing the black rock and she is top hen.... my rhode islands have stopped laying and so have the other 3.... im not getting a single egg.... I found black mites in the coop so its been cleaned within an inch of its life and I've wormed all the brood..... Is there anything else I can do and am I doing something wrong..... HELP.... ooohhhh I feed them on layers pellets, grit, mixed poulty feed and a little bit of corn.

Thanks 

Debbie

 

You may not thank me for saying this, but mixing hens from several different sources is a recipe for problems. Every established flock has diseases floating around within it which result in no symptoms, but which can be very serious to hens from a different flock. Raising chicks from eggs (which can be bought-in) ensures that they will be at least moderately resistant to the "home" diseases, and is a good reason for doing so. It would also be a good investment to vaccinate new chicks against the usual range of nasties, but vaccines tend to come in packs designed to treat 500 or more chickens, so getting a suitable quantity can be tricky unless you know a friendly and helpful larger scale poultry breeder.

With your existing hens, if they aren't dead yet, they'll probably get over the alien infections; indeed clinically they may already be over them, but have been pushed into moult. Either way, layers pellets are not needed if they're not laying, and given time they may well start laying again.

Thank you for replying..... I think I've found my problem.... those black mites are red mite. I didnt realise that they are black during the day and then when they feed on a nite they go red. Obvioulsy after eating their way thro my chucks!!!! Also the combs on three of my birds have fallen over a little and looking at various info it all seems to relate to having red mite. So, Im on a mission to rid my coop of the damn things.

Your email is fab tho.... very informative.... thans very much

Debbie 

 

 

2658336, The best piece of advice ever. It is more than 60 years since my father insisted I learn and remember never to mix new hens with an existing flock. On a bigger scale I always used numerous small night shelters (for contimuity of supply on a commercial basis one cannot have all-in-all-out) and bought pullets at about 12 weeks so that they were acclimatised before PoL. It works most of the time, but no 100% guarantee.