My chicken is 10 months old, but still doesn't lay, is this normal?

[Eden83_haaretz]

So my favorite chicken (which I think was premature and we helped hatch and raised partly with her mom and sisters) is almost 10 months old and is still not laying, her sister has been laying for about two months, just wondering if it's normal. Maybe she still thinks she's a chick and that has something to do with it? She hangs out with us most of the time, I have to take her out to eat because she'd rather be indoors with us than looking for food. Maybe she just needs more nutrition? Any thoughts? She is smaller than the others.

 

[WallyG74]

My advice is to put her outside and let her be a chicken.

 

[rosemarythyme]

She could just be much slower to mature, especially if she had some health issues to overcome from her premature hatching. And now that days are shortening it's less likely that she would start laying soon. As long as she's active and alert I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[3KillerBs]

Photos?

Are you 100% sure she's female?

 

[Painted Calls]

Photos and breed may help us form an answer.

 

[McChooky]

So my favorite chicken (which I think was premature and we helped hatch and raised partly with her mom and sisters) is almost 10 months old and is still not laying, her sister has been laying for about two months, just wondering if it's normal. Maybe she still thinks she's a chick and that has something to do with it? She hangs out with us most of the time, I have to take her out to eat because she'd rather be indoors with us than looking for food. Maybe she just needs more nutrition? Any thoughts? She is smaller than the others.

People food and treats can cause stunted growth, sour crop, food digestion and absorption issues, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and a compromised immune system and other disease all of which can cause chickens not to lay.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

She could just be much slower to mature, especially if she had some health issues to overcome from her premature hatching. And now that days are shortening it's less likely that she would start laying soon. As long as she's active and alert I wouldn't worry too much about it.

She's super active and alert. Never lathargic, she flies better than any of the other actually (my husband loves to throw her and maker her fly). Her caracter is even more confident and strong than the others that are more or less her size, and they all respect her a lot. Our young rooster has even tried to chase her to mate and she outruns/flies away with more ease than any of them.
It's not that we don't insist she stay with the others, but our cabin is small and when we open the windows and doors for ventilation we only have a Mosquito kind of cloth hanging and she'll lift it to get in (she's also smarter I'd say than the others, solves problems quicker).
Has no problem flying up into the Apple trees in one try too, she likes to hang out there too (even insists she wants to sleep there with a few other chickens instead of sleeping in the coop; she hates to fight others for her space).
Anyways here she is, so it's the most recent picture of her (a couple days ago). Yeah... You can tell I kind of allow her a bit of freedom in coming indoors. It's hard for me not to adore her caracter, she follows us whenever she sees us, loves to be carried and loves to be pet, she does hang out outside lots with the others too but will run towards us as soon as she sees/hears us.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

People food and treats can cause stunted growth, sour crop, food digestion and absorption issues, vitamin and mineral deficiencies and a compromised immune system and other disease all of which can cause chickens not to lay.

How do you identify crop problems? Don't think she has any... She eats fills her crop and sometime later it's empty, fills it again and so on and so forward. They all free range, they are never locked up (except at night), they'll eat grass, clover, apples that fall from the trees, crickets, spiders, in general insects, I've seen some of them even eat frogs and mice, talked with people that have game birds also and they say it's normal (saw one of our chickens killing and eating a snake once too).

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

Photos?

Are you 100% sure she's female?

Yup, definitely female.

 

[Eden83_haaretz]

My advice is to put her outside and let her be a chicken.

Yeah we do insist a lot in that with her, she's just quite stubborn and sometimes I just end up thinking "yeah I can't spend all my time taking her out everytime she manages to get in, after a while she does leave; she also runs inside if one of the bigger ones starts eating at the same time she eats or if she perceives they might pecs her. I just love how you can tell that these game birds are really really smart and think things through a lot.