24 week pullet lives alone with a roo. Is this why she's not laying?

[TinyLittleFarm]

Last fall our neighbors gave us 4 day olds. Three of the little munchkins turned out to be roos. I have one pullet and one roo left. When they were 14 weeks, we tried to put them out in the coop. We did it the right way...slowly introducing, etc. It did not work out. The poor dears were bloody by the end of the first full day and I just couldn't leave them. We figured we would keep them in our garage in the brooder until spring when everyone has a chance to spread out a bit. We've had a cold winter and the chickens have stayed in the coop pretty much all the time, even when the door is open. The brooder is 10 square feet, so plenty big for the two of them.

Anyway, Ginger is an EE and is now 24 weeks and we haven't seen any eggs. I know 24 weeks isn't exactly super late. Her roo just started crowing (very badly) and I haven't seen him mate with her. Will she lay when it's just the two of them? It seems like such a dumb question...does she need a flock to encourage her or anything?

 

[gritsar]

Nah, I suspect that she's just not ready to lay yet. EEs can be awful late bloomers.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Give her time - early layers have many, many problems - so really the later she lays in life, the more mature her organs will be, giving you less problems.

The other thing is light - she might not be getting enough daylight hours to trigger her system - again just give her time.

 

[TinyLittleFarm]

Yes, she barely gets any light in the garage. I feel terrible having them in there. They are toasty warm, though and spoiled rotten. It's finally warm today. I'm going to let her and her boyfriend out in the yard for a few hours.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I have some chickens in the garage also

Some are chicks, feathering out and adjusting to temps but one "cage" has a trio of my Mille Fleur cochins in it. They (MF) are laying due to the light - my MF in my hay shed get no additional light and are not laying yet.

Can you run a light out there for them? Just a regular light bulb or the incandecent bulbs work fine. I just turn the light on in the morning and then off just before I go to bed.