Is this girl real old?

[Mrs. K]

As you are in Florida - the daylight will not bother them as much as me, much farther north. I thought she did look like an old hen, her legs look a bit thick. How does she walk. Older birds get sore and stiff, especially in the morning. I would expect her to be 3+ years, and to me, that is an old bird. I have an EE that looks nearly like a twin to her and in going on 3. (That may be swaying my mind) She laid good for me this summer, has molted and done nothing since. My older birds begin to lay again in mid to late January.

The fact that she is in new digs, can really cause laying to stop, however, when I have ever brought in new birds, I generally got 1-2 eggs that were already in the pipe so to speak, then a major break, till they got over the move. If she did not lay in the first 24-30 hours, she probably was not laying before you got her.

Wait and see is the best advice.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Her plumage looks pretty good, maybe she already molted this year.
They can molt as early as August even in FL.
They can detect the change in day length far before most people can,
and that is what trigger a normal molt.

Leg scales near feet look like they may be slightly raised,
could be scale mites or age or both,
closer pics of legs and feet would tell that tale.
It's pretty darn hard, if not impossible, to tell a birds age after 5-6 months.

 

[bhess]

Just an update. Again thanks for the help and advise from you all.

She gave us a nice big olive egg finally. And then 2 more even! I think she is now quite happy here. Probably too spoiled between the scratch and sunflower seeds.

So I'm guessing she really isn't "real old" after all.

P.S. the wife is happy now. she didn't like her looks...... LOL