Pullet Not Maturing As Expected

[StephanieC]

This isn't an Emergency, I don't think it is a Disease, and it isn't an Injury and I don't need a Cure, but I am not getting any response where I put this on the Barred Rock thread, so...

My Barred Rock, Cuda, just turned six months old, yet she still looks like a four month old. Her comb is barely started, she has no wattles, and her face and comb are still pink. She is also at least a third smaller than a full grown BR. Also, her size and appearance have remained completely unchanged for at least two months. What could be going on? Does a chicken ever fail to mature and stay a pullet?

 

[ThePRfan]

This isn't an Emergency, I don't think it is a Disease, and it isn't an Injury and I don't need a Cure, but I am not getting any response where I put this on the Barred Rock thread, so...

My Barred Rock, Cuda, just turned six months old, yet she still looks like a four month old. Her comb is barely started, she has no wattles, and her face and comb are still pink. She is also at least a third smaller than a full grown BR. Also, her size and appearance have remained completely unchanged for at least two months. What could be going on? Does a chicken ever fail to mature and stay a pullet?

Not all form combs or wabbles.It's nothing.I've had a hen like that.Barreds aren't big birds though.

 

[sourland]

She may very well have a congenital problem that has stunted her growth. She may or may not ever lay. If she does lay, her eggs should not be hatched.

 

[cafarmgirl]

She may very well have a congenital problem that has stunted her growth. She may or may not ever lay. If she does lay, her eggs should not be hatched.

X2.

 

[StephanieC]

She may very well have a congenital problem that has stunted her growth. She may or may not ever lay. If she does lay, her eggs should not be hatched.

Yes, I had begun to wonder if that might be the case. She was to be a layer, anyway, I don't have a rooster.

Cuda has had a rough time of things. She was nearly taken by a hawk when very young, got herself stuck in the bars of the dog exercise pen she was in at the time of the attack, and it took a few minutes for me to extricate her. She was all puffed up and didn't eat for 24 hours after but then was fine. Then she was picked on in the coop, and had to be in a hospital crate for a week while I solved my coop issues. And there was some other incident that I can't seem to remember. But whenever anything bad happens, it always seems to be Cuda in trouble.

That said, she is smart, resourceful and healthy. And my favorite. I just want her to be happy.

ThePRFan, thanks for responding. I have never seen a Barred Rock that wasn't fully combed and fully wattled and very large. My girlfriend's BRs are bigger than her very large Orpingtons.

Here is Cuda, six months old (the bump on her head is leftover from her coop attack several weeks ago; I guess it's permanent):

 

[ThePRfan]

That may not even be a BR.It looks like a dominque.

 

[StephanieC]

That may not even be a BR.It looks like a dominque.

All I know is she was one of a large order of Barred Rocks that came into my feed store from Ideal Poultry, and she looked just like all the other chicks. Her comb is small, but it sure doesn't look like a rose comb to me. It is thin and sticks straight up in a single line. And either way, no red color, and no wattles at all.

 

[sourland]

That may not even be a BR.It looks like a dominque.

Dominiques do not have single combs. She is a 'for some reason' stunted BR.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

That may not even be a BR.It looks like a dominque.

Actually, this bird has the breed characteristics of a BR and not of a Dominque -- specifically the single comb. When you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras.

 

[Empty Nestor 76]

Yes, I had begun to wonder if that might be the case. She was to be a layer, anyway, I don't have a rooster.

Cuda has had a rough time of things. She was nearly taken by a hawk when very young, got herself stuck in the bars of the dog exercise pen she was in at the time of the attack, and it took a few minutes for me to extricate her. She was all puffed up and didn't eat for 24 hours after but then was fine. Then she was picked on in the coop, and had to be in a hospital crate for a week while I solved my coop issues. And there was some other incident that I can't seem to remember. But whenever anything bad happens, it always seems to be Cuda in trouble.

That said, she is smart, resourceful and healthy. And my favorite. I just want her to be happy.

ThePRFan, thanks for responding. I have never seen a Barred Rock that wasn't fully combed and fully wattled and very large. My girlfriend's BRs are bigger than her very large Orpingtons.

Here is Cuda, six months old (the bump on her head is leftover from her coop attack several weeks ago; I guess it's permanent):

My 8 month old Barred Rock looks like this one. No significant growth to comb and wattle. She eats and gets excited when I have treats for her and her sisters, she's not picked on by the others. She loves to go outside and forage like the others, but she seems to be a loner, She's the first one on the roost at night. All her sisters have been laying since August, and just lately I've found several soft shelled eggs while the others are hard and getting larger in size. I think the soft shelled may be hers. She isn't maturing as the other have. When I pick her up I feel she is thinner than her sisters. She is my favorite (I consider her the runt of the litter) and I'm rooting for her to mature normally. Does there seem hope for her?