Question on a new to us bird

[reit38]

We were gifted a few chickens from a lady that wanted to get out of raising them. This bird being one of them. She had said that this was the rooster's favorite hand and that almost all of her birds were laying at this time. So far we have only received one egg out of eight Birds we received from her. After looking this bird over a little bit more I noticed how rough the feet were looking and how many feathers she was missing. I'm assuming by looking at her she is just an older bird and probably won't be laying any eggs? We are new to chickens and weren't really positive what to look for

 

[reit38]

We have had them now for 2 weeks

 

[chickens really]

She looks normal to me for a Hen being bred...Typically they stop laying when stressed...Meaning, moved to a new home...Keep waiting....

 

[lazy gardener]

Also normal for a bird who's been with a rooster to be showing feather wear. Which one was the roo's favorite? I'm actually surprised she's not showing more wear than she is. Most often, the roo will breed the most productive birds more often, resulting in more feather wear. Also, the birds that are laying well are putting most of their protein reserves into growing eggs instead of pretty feathers. The older bird who has beautiful feathers, especially if she is in a flock with a roo is most likely not going to be one of the better layers. I don't see what you are saying about her feet. Can you show a close up pic??? How old are these birds supposed to be? All EE??? This time of the year, it's normal for a bird to go into a molt if she's over a year old. Egg production will wane, or stop, and may not pick up until the days start to get longer again. You can get around this by adding supplemental light. I like to wait till November, then start ramping up the light to kick production up faster than it otherwise would.

 

[reit38]

Don't have a real good pic of her legs right now. I'll try to get a good one tonight after work. I have heard that when their legs gets scale it means they are a lot older. She thought most of the birds were either about to start lying on up to two or three years old. The lady wasn't all there though she has told me one thing and then told my friend who also got a few birds from her another. He got a few from her and they're not letting either and he got them about the same time I did. Here is a pic of the birds we got from her

 

[lazy gardener]

There's a lot of difference between "about to start laying" and up to 2 - 3 years old! If she gave them away, they may be worth what you paid for them!

 

[Ridgerunner]

It’s pretty hard for me to guess a hen’s age after they get a full year or more growth on them. I’m not going to make a guess as to her age. She does look mature but that doesn’t narrow it down much.

You don’t mention if you are north or south of the equator. Modifying your profile to show a general location can help with many questions. If you are north of the equator the days are getting shorter which can lead a mature hen to start molting. Stress can sometimes start them molting a little earlier than otherwise. Some hens are fast molters and some are slow molters. That’s genetic and is about how fast the feathers fall out, not how fast they grow back. Some fast molters can look pretty naked but you might not be able to tell a slow molter is actually molting just by looking at her, the feathers fall out that slowly. Usually the feathers around the head fall out first. Are you seeing a fair amount of feathers flying around?

When they molt they stop laying eggs and use the nutrition that was used to make eggs to grow new feathers. This time of year in the northern hemisphere the most common reason they aren’t laying like you think they should is the molt. The second most common reason any time of year is that they are hiding a nest but my guess is that the stress of moving started a molt.

A close-up of the feet may help. Or you can look up the symptoms of scaly leg mites and see what you think. It doesn’t look that bad to me, I don’t think it is, but a close-up might help.

 

[reit38]

Lots of feathers around the run, I'm assuming she's molting then

 

[lazy gardener]

I honestly don't think those girls look bad.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree. It's the molt and those legs don't look that bad.