i have 6 b plyomth rock hens and 1 roaster.they r about 25 to 30 weeks old.am i doin something wrong,i feed them scratch feed plus layin feed.i also give them oyster shells.is there something im missin or doin wrong.PLEASE someone help me.have i babyie my hens and roaster to much,there big babyies.iv got there nest boxes with hay,all ready for them but still no go.

tammy, Do not think that y our hens won't lay eggs. They are very young and immature. It takes a long time for a Plymouth Rock hen to mature her system to be able to lay eggs. 6 months would be early for them to lay, and maybe a little longer, since it is not springtime and days are short. It won't be too much longer. Listen for your hens to make a new sound, a kind of singing, and in a week or so after that, you will find your first egg, very small for large hens, but they will become larger as the first weeks go by. I do not give my hens Laying feed until after they start to lay, but keep them on Start & Grow for optimum growth and maturity. Laying eggs is what hens do when they are old enough and mature enough, so be very patient, give them VERY LITTLE scratch feed, as that will neither help them grow faster, nor lay eggs when they are older. Enjoy them and talk to them nicely, they will do their best for you when they can! Jean

Be careful! Your hens are too little and immature to lay anything yet, and if you feed them too much protein they might begin laying eggs before they're ready to. This might result in prolapse or something worse. There is a page in the Chicken Information Central about layers and how to feed them. The site is www.geocities.com/farmlinks

My hens are now 5 months old, and only 15 out of 25 are laying. (They started about 4 weeks ago.) I felt the same way you did because my Golden Sex Links started laying at 3 months old.

at what age would you think gold,and silver laced wyandotte bantams should start laying.

Our Sebright bantams began laying later than our dual-purpose chickens, when they were about six months old. I'm not familiar with your breed, but maybe someone else out there is and will tell us their experience with the onset of laying.