EE - late layer??

[RavenEh]

Hi Everyone,

Is it possible for an EE to be a "late bloomer" with egg laying?

I have an EE pullet, Splash, who is supposed to be 24 weeks old (when I bought her 4 weeks ago the owner said she was "about" 5 months old) and she still hasn't laid an egg. The day I bought her, I could have sworn her comb was red - but ever since it's been the same shade of pink.

She is healthy, her comb is bright pink and her feathers are full and clean. She is eating, drinking and behaving normally. She is on a free feed diet of layer pellets, and grit in an accessible dish as well as crushed egg shell in an accessible dish (she was on grower feed because I have a mixed age flock until yesterday when I upgraded her to layer pellets in the hopes of bringing on an egg). Her water is full, cool, and clean. She lives in an 8 ft tall by 4 ft wide by 4 ft deep coop with three other pullets who she gets along with, and they have a run the same size as the coop, with a sand box in it for bathing. There are four roosts, so she has a pick of what she wants to sleep on, and a 12" x 16" nesting box.

I cleaned the coop last night and laid new wood chips (pine) and DE to ensure there were no bugs bothering my girls. I don't give them treats very often - maybe once every couple weeks - and all I've ever given them was watermelon, carrots and nectarines.

My other pullets: a 17 week old barred rock named Leia, and two 15 week old gold laced wyandottes named Penny and Elle. Splash was kept in a quarantine area for the first two and a half weeks, and then when we got rid of our last rooster almost two weeks ago and the pecking order was unsettled, I slipped her in with my other three girls and she took up First Lady Status. They seem to be getting along well - no bullying or meanness at all except a couple fluffed up necks and wing flaps. I've made sure to make no other changes since then so they can get settled in.

I'm worried because she seems exactly like my other three pullets, but she should be in the egg laying spirit - shouldn't she? Everything I've read on here shows birds laying between 18 and 21 weeks. If her age is correct, she's a bit delayed. There is a chance she could be younger, as the original owner wasn't positive on her age ... and I'm also wondering if it could be the stress of the rehoming, and now the new pullets to get used to?


Any advice? Should I be worried?

Thanks so much!

 

[sourland]

Since EE are crossbred birds hopefully carrying the blue egg gene, their onset of egg production can be all over the place as can the number of eggs produced.

 

[donrae]

If she was "about" 5 months, take that with a grain of salt. She could be a month younger. It's also perfectly normal for birds not to start laying until 24-25 weeks, just as some humans mature later than others.

Do you have a picture of her?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Any EE I ever had didn't start laying until about 8 months, and they lay for a bit and quit, than lay again in a few months than quit. It really does matter what the cross is and who bred them.