Hi folks After some well learnt patience my girls have been laying eggs for the last 5 weeks. Two eggs daily but for some reason one chicken is not laying. none of them are acting broody and they all eat and join in with the other as normal. All three are the same age. I haven't identified which one is not laying, but is this normal or is their such a thing as a dud chicken? many thanks
A little more information is going to be needed to help you answer this question. What age (in weeks) are the birds in question? What breeds are they? How are you determining that one bird is not laying - are you going strictly by egg count, does the suspected non-layer produce a color of egg you have not been getting at all or the same color as other birds who you feel are laying? Simply not getting exactly the same number of eggs as you have birds each day is not evidence that one bird is not laying - especially with new layers. It is common with new layers for a particular bird to skip days between eggs - meaning that in a group of three birds you may get two eggs per day consistently and yet all three birds are actually laying, just htat each day two of the birds are laying and the two birds in question change each day. As for a "dud" chicken - while it does happen that some hens never lay, that is actually rather uncommon - more likely IF one bird has not started to lay yet it is a matter of different birds maturing at different rates, and just because two of the birds have reached production the third has not yet matured, similar to how some female humans reach puberty at 12 but others don't until 13, 14 or later. As to who is/isn't laying - a simple check of their vents is an easy first step -- a laying bird will have a moist, plump, larger vent -- a non-laying bird will have a dry, small vent.
LOL, I feel I have has a few Dud hens, "started" laying makes me feel they must be young. Are they the same breed?? I have had some pullets that start later to lay---some at 18 weeks the same age closer to 28 weeks. Give it some time!! Good Luck
They are Clarabelle's. I purchased them as pullets but the owner couldn't tell me exactly how old they were. Like you said (as I'm new to hens) I was judging this by 2 eggs a day and 3 hens, so I gathered one was not laying. The only strange thing is when I throw some food into them they run over to feed but one seems to stand on the food without seeing it and looks around in search while the others are like homing missiles to it. I was thinking she may be partly blind but she knows where the main pellet food is and where to go to roost. This may have no bearing but I was thinking something may be wrong.
