Hen Keepers - Advice

[bp fick]

Raised some pullets from day old. Born last March. All of them began to lay on or about July 28, except one big one. She is a bit of food hound. I gave her an extra month, and then some, to come on line with her mates.

She was headed for the freezer, although I hated to lose a hen with egg sales picking up. One last attempt at something.

I put in solitary yesterday. Made a separate stall for her. No food, only water. Threw a fit being apart from the flock, of course, but this afternoon, during a period of settling in and being quiet, she laid her first starter egg.

Question for those hen keepers amongst us. Now that she has broken through, my thought, my hope is that they keep coming, but will they. Concerned that returning to the flock puts her back into the not laying mode? I suspect a pecking order issue here is also at play. She is sort of the dumpy girl.

Either way, I'll keep a close eye on her for a few days and see if she is past all this. My concern for her over feeding penchant remains, however.

 

[randy41]

it doesn't hurt to keep her isolated for a while to see if she'll keep laying. you can also control her food intake that way. how do you know which hens are laying and which aren't?

 

[bp fick]

I have only three of these black hens. I merely have to watch them. I have suspected an issue because I never got 3 eggs of this color/size in one day, which meant one girl was always taking a day off in rotation? Nah. So, I spent three consecutive mornings observing who was going into the nesting box. Three straight days, the pattern never changed. Black #1, followed by Black #2. Black #3 never headed into the box.

The rest of the flock is a different type and lay a different egg.

 

[nebraskasparks]

You did the right thing...any problems...isolate immediately. So far as eating habits and return on investment. We had fat stewing hens every now and then with noodles...

 

[bp fick]

I've read that pumping out 5-7% of their body weight a day, ie; an egg of high food value, helps to keep their weight down. Hopefully, as she keeps up with the egg laying, (fingers crossed) that her weight will moderate. Without laying, all those calories were just piling on. Sound right?

 

[yankeerider]

I doubt that being with the flock impacts egg laying. Hatched March, others started laying late July, that's only 4 months- maybe 18-22 weeks? Many breeds and individuals take 24-30 weeks to start laying. I'd suggest you simply had one that reached puberty a bit late, and no reason to worry. But time will tell.

 

[dave1949]

Could be just a late beginner like Yankee said. In general, hens that are poor layers look different - high breasted and narrow across the vent. If her body shape looks good, then I would give her time.
Dave.

 

[bp fick]

OK, final report. Glad to say that some time in isolation seemed to do the trick. I kept her in isolation for a couple days. See through pen, so she wasn't disconnected from the flock. A bit stubborn, but she came on. Laid two days in a row, so I re-integrated her into the flock. Although she is the largest of the birds, she remains at the bottom of the pecking order.

She goes to the boxes last, but now, at least, she goes. Three days in a row, she has laid. Last to lay, but she is laying. I am relieved.
Quite sure this wasn't a maturity issue, but a social one. She now seems to have the confidence to go ahead and lay.

Thanks everyone for their insights.