32-week old Brahma still not laying eggs

[Fallbrook Chicken Mama]

I'll assume you are in the northern hemisphere where the days are getting longer just from what you wrote. So that eliminates one possible problem.

Not every hen is an egg laying machine. I've had hens that laid messed up eggs regularly and some that laid pretty poorly. I've had some that did not lay an egg until early December on the shortest days of the year. They were three of them nine months old. The breeder I got them from said they should have been laying by five months. Each hen is different regardless of breed.

Your others are doing great. That means you are doing things right. It is not a flockwide problem, it is not something you are doing or not doing. It is an individual hen problem.

I totally agree with the vent check. That is a good way to get valuable data. It can help you isolate the problem. I'd want that information before I went to any next steps.

If the vent check shows she is not laying you can do the hardest thing possible, be patient. You will get a lot of encouragement to do something, that's just the nature of this forum. It is possible she will start laying in a few weeks and will lay great from here on out. Mine that started after nine months did fine once they started. Often late starters don't do that well but each hen is an individual.

You can keep her as a pet even if she is non-productive.

Or you can say she doesn't fit in with my plans and get rid of her. Don't feed a non-productive hen. Getting rid of here could be eating her, selling her, or giving her away.

If the vent check shows she is laying she may be hiding a nest on you. That's not all that unusual. Or maybe she is very sporadically laying one of those weird eggs even if the camera doesn't catch her. I'm not sure how that would work in your set-up.

If you think she is laying those soft eggs you can try feeding her calcium tablets. I'd treat her individually and not the entire flock if their egg shells are OK. Why take a chance on messing them up if they are not the problem.

This is a downside to owning chickens. Everything is great when everything is great. But when you have issues you may have to make hard decisions and it can get very frustrating.

Good luck!

Thanks for the detailed answer, it's very helpful.
I live in Southern California, I will update my profile.
I am actually patient, not having the extra egg is not a problem. I am just worried about my hen, who might be sick. This is why I asked for help. I keep them for eggs and as pets, and I would keep this one even if she didn't lay eggs. I just don't want her to suffer. She seems to be completely fine, hopefully she is just a late bloomer.
When I go home from my trip in 2 weeks, I'll do the vent check with my husband.

Thanks again.

 

[Fallbrook Chicken Mama]

Update on my Brahma:
I should have posted here earlier, because the day I did, she started laying eggs. Unfortunately, not in the nesting box. She lays her egg in the morning at 6 am (as seen on the coop video), from the roosting bar. The first day it was intact, but the following day it cracked. Now we just need to teach her the use of the nesting box (which she had visited before, so she knows where it is at). At least I know that she is able to lay eggs and she is not sick.
Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[Penpal]

If it's not daylight when she lays she is probably afraid to leave the roost. Chickens can't see in the dark. The problem may fix itself when she is laying in daylight.

 

[Fallbrook Chicken Mama]

Yes, it happened in the early morning hours while it was still dark. Thank you for this important info.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Brahmas are very slow to mature.

 

[Fallbrook Chicken Mama]

Brahmas are very slow to mature.

This one was, but finally she started laying as well. We have another Brahma, exactly the same age, and she started laying 2 months earlier. Interesting.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This one was, but finally she started laying as well. We have another Brahma, exactly the same age, and she started laying 2 months earlier. Interesting.

Breeds may have general tendencies, but each chicken is an individual. On average, Brahmas are slower to mature than some other breeds but you have to have enough for averages to mean something. As you noticed, an individual can be way early or way late but if you have enough the average should be about where it should be.

That's a very common misconception on this forum, that every chicken of a certain breed is identical all over the world. They are not and individuals can vary greatly. But the way many posts are written you would not expect that.

 

[Fallbrook Chicken Mama]

Breeds may have general tendencies, but each chicken is an individual. On average, Brahmas are slower to mature than some other breeds but you have to have enough for averages to mean something. As you noticed, an individual can be way early or way late but if you have enough the average should be about where it should be.

That's a very common misconception on this forum, that every chicken of a certain breed is identical all over the world. They are not and individuals can vary greatly. But the way many posts are written you would not expect that.

Thank you for educating me, I really appreciate it.