I have a Barred Rock hen 8 months old. She has not layed an egg yet. I have read previous comments about stress. Right now she is stress free, healthy, has a nice big coop plus a yard, good food, est. HOWEVER, we bought her as a baby with a red hen and that one died a horrible death by a hawk when they were 3 months old. THEN.. we got another red hen immediately and 2 months later that one died in front of the Barred Rock hen. Then...we got 2 more red hens for her and they appeared sick so I removed them from my property asap. Could all this be the reason my hen wont lay?? Shes stress free now but that's a lot for one hen to witness??
Waiting for that first egg can be frustrating. I think that some birds just mature earlier or later than others, kind of like humans! The stresses from her past could have slowed her development a bit. I have an 8+ month-old EE who still hasn't laid an egg, but she went through a broody phase a couple weeks ago where she stalked the other birds while they were in the nest and then she jumped right in and took over! After 3 days of pushing her off the nest and making sure all eggs were removed ASAP, I think she might be over the broody thing. In contrast, the other three chickens (2 Leghorn mutts and an Australorp) have been laying regularly since they were about 6 months old. Blackie, the Australorp, had laid for 48 days straight until taking yesterday off. And the Leghorns usually go anywhere from 7 to 14 days between their days off. And maybe one of these days, we'll be surprised with a blue/green egg!!
So glad I saw this post. Our BR laid her first egg yesterday as well as our Americauna and both were around 9 months. We got them in early August. Like you, perfect conditions, free ranging, food, central Texas weather. Our RIR's first laid at around 7 months. Our Buffington is close and is at 9 months now too. So all of ours were very late versus what I keep reading here. You are not alone. But it is so worth the wait. We got an incubator for Christmas and are further feeding our addition.
