8-month-old pullet, still not laying?

SillyChick

Songster
12 Years
Dec 15, 2007
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Hello

I have an 8-month old New Hampshire Red pullet that I'm quite worried about......she's healthy and happy, eating and pecking about, but she's still not laying..... I'm wondering if it is because I was feeding her chicken grower mash instead of laying mash, but I heard that they are only to be fed laying mash once they start laying, but my family is forcing me to give them laying mash. I checked on her features to see if she's a non-productive hen, but she passed the characteristics of a productive hen. I also think that she might be laying behind my back - there's a section of the coop that they like to hang around (behind a ladder) that she might be laying on, but I still haven't checked it yet(I can't fit into the coop!), or they might be eating the eggs. I'm not sure about my guesses, but do you think there's a reason for her not laying? Please help!

Thanks in advance!
 
She's old enough to be put on lay mash, so please do that. That could be part of the problem, or she could be a late bloomer... or she could be laying someplace and you don't know about it!
Can you watch her one day and see if she goes off someplace to lay?
 
Thanks, CarriBrown! I'll feed her laying mash from now on. I'm also going to check on the small areas o f the coop to see if there are traces of eggs. I'll see if anything comes up!
 
Another thing, add some oyster shell to her diet. It is a great source of calcium and will make her egg shells (as well as her bones) hard and healthy.
They don't need a lot of it. Just put a little dish out with oyster shell in it. They will pick at it as needed.
 
Thanks for the advice CarriBrown! I'm going to mix some to the feed if they don't eat it, too!
 
Great question! I have seven chickens and only get a maximum of six eggs per day, so someone isn't producing, just not sure who it is. (Brown layer, though, as I have 4 of them.) I feed them layer pellets and their washed, crushed eggshells back to them, but will start giving them oyster shell, too, to see if that makes any difference. They appear to all be happy and healthy, and get variety in their diets, too, from the grass, weeds and vegetable and fruit scraps they get.

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