Good to know. Typically, when female acts as the 'protector' due to no male birds present, do they also stop egg production?
Egg production is effected by many things.. including changes to flock dynamics, hours of daylight, nutrition, predator visits, genetics, on and on.. being top of the pecking order does NOT decrease my egg production in hens.
I would suspect your gal that previously laid eggs (presuming it wasn't someone else's being mistaken for hers).. is taking over the top spot BUT being effected by daylight hours decreasing... Noting Silkie are NOT a wise choice for layer productivity.. and broodiness is the number one thing that makes them act like jerks with no eggs.. At the stated age though.. kinda teenager, still maturing, might act out and then come back around like you are hoping!
Will all due respect, chicken behavior is restricted to boys vs girls.
No, the only behaviors restricted by gender in chickens is
egg laying and
egg fertilization.. everything else.. including crowing, growing spurs, even sitting and hatching eggs IS negotiable.
A cockerel or cock can never lay an egg. A pullet or hen can never fertilize an egg.
A pullet or hen can have an infertile egg start to develop an embryo but it will never make it to term or hatch because simply it doesn't have all the genetic information it needs.
ALL my birds this year.. quit laying.. had mini molts.. check her for pin feathers.. and maybe be patient.. I sold off all of them presuming genetic weakness.. but kicking myself now.. as so many others report their SAME aged birds as mine were ALSO NOT laying!
My nutrition is right. Daylight will start increasing again after December 21.. I would look into daylight before dumping a bird for not laying this year.. The Silkies I had that were NOT excessively broody were actually pretty good layer.. 4 eggs a week, medium sized by about 2 years old.
If there were a nutritional deficiency in your normal chicken feed, I would expect them all to be affected.
Silkies specifically proved to me this is not true.. and individual genetics matter so much.. for instance.. if one had coccidiosis when young and the others didn't maybe their intestines were effected more and less effective at absorption perhaps.. and I can see the birds in question are two different varieties.. just for conversation purposes.. It was my hatching eggs (failure analysis) though that revealed among the same flock (breed) with the same feed and routine some individuals MAY require extra help.. or on my case where I select only the best of the best culling by eating or selling the rest, or the one that isn't thriving under MY conditions.. Those I valued as pets and still considered viable would be sold to good homes. Those I have no connection with or really won't work for someone else gotta serve their purpose also.
Given how many other problems can be fixed by improving nutrition, that was a reasonable question.
I agree it's a reasonable question.
I also agree that nutrition will have no impact on the actual condition being questioned if it were hormone related.
Dear OP.. I saw you say they are livestock and pets.. I would be patient and give her a chance to return to lay and her former friendliness.. many new layers are not consistent from the get and will level off better with some maturity. This is for the pet part. But for the livestock part.. I think supporting a bird through molt to get larger eggs is more affordable than raising new chicks and waiting forever for eggs.. Or maybe a wash.. depending on your cost of certain things.. sorry.. I've over thought every penny/ounce/ingredient that a trip to the market is a nightmare for me.
However, if the silly pathetic hen crowing (I've heard it) doesn't desist and lay come on no later than say late January (or whatever time frame you see fit, I'm thinking daylight hours).. then it sounds like culling may be the right choice for you. If not to another home.. they dress fine for the table or make perfect pet food or compost/fertilizer. The cost of implant to increase laying (if you even could.. since chickens are hatched with ALL of the ovum follicles on board that will ever become eggs and also it's not just about getting the follicle to release but all the other part to unify) would seem to negate the cost of keeping the animal at all being described as half and half.. what folks are willing or able to do for full blown pets is often much different than those being raised as livestock as I know it... which is literally what feeds your family and their life depends on it working properly without fail and within a finite amount of resources.
My (non obsessive) crowing hen.. didn't lay for more than a year.. she was one of only 2 out of hundreds of birds who got "Pet" status much earlier in her life due to personality which she maintained the entire time. At 3 years old she unexpectedly returned to lay!
