Should I COOK her? Need your thoughts.......

[Cetawin]

The hen will lay when she is ready to...why rush her. Would you like to give birth everyday? Especially when someone is dogging you and hovering like an obsessive expectant father daily. LOL My NHR will absolutely NOT lay if someone is watching her. I have caught her laying in the tractor by looking out the window. She is just stubborn that way.

You are getting into the cooler months and your egg production will probably get off at some point, they stop laying when they go broody, they stop laying if they are really hot, they stop laying when they molt...they stop laying when they do not have enough light, they stop laying when they get too cool and they stop laying when you piss them off

Give her time. She will lay and it may not be until Spring.

They all mature at different rates even within the same breed. I think the earliest I have heard is a golden comet lay at 16 weeks but a Light Brahma not lay until almost 12 months.

But each morning saying "She did it again" is not going to make her lay. Stop stressing yourself. Be Happy!

 

[CoonX]

Easy Roast Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken in Crock Pot

Will

 

[ginasmarans]

I hope she is not laying internally because that can be a serious condition. I think she is just getting ready,but you can help her by giving her some Black Oil Sunflower seeds to lubricate things and make sure she is getting enough protein and calcium. I think you will be pleased when she does lay because I bet the eggs will be a good size. She probably won't lay little pullet eggs. Keep us posted. I'm going to predict(just for fun) that she will lay within the next 7 days.

 

[ebonykawai]

Some info on internal laying:

http://dlhunicorn.conforums.com/index.cgi?board=diseasecasestudies&action=display&num=1169201098

Some threads here on BYC:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=92569

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=85156

There's more if you do a search.

 

[chickenlickin8]

Coon.....you crack me up

Thanks for more recipes!

Gina, I am hoping her eggs will be huge once she starts laying being tht she has been saving it up so long. I will let you know if she lays in the next 7 days...I hope you're right!

I say she will lay by Halloween! Maybe on Halloween even.....a Trick or Treat egg! LOL!

Ebony, thanks for the links...all very interesting reading. I had no clue there was so much to learn out "internal layers". I think she is just a bit slow...LOL!

 

[Gindee77]

I agree that you should give her a chance. She'll still be here for you to cook in a month or two if she is unproductive...you've given her this long and invested this much in her as an egg layer and as someone else said ...it will only cost you a couple dollars to give her a couple more months. And you may be rewarded with a lot of huge beautiful eggs!! And if not, then she'll still be young tender and juicy! I'd be worried about finding a huge store of eggs inside her ready to be laid if you kill her...then all you'll have is one meal of chicken meat instead of a months and months of great eggs!

Good luck...I'm hoping Rhoadie lays an egg soon for you!!

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Ditto

 

[seminolewind]

Let's see. You live in Florida, and your chickens live in a coop 24/7, and it's hot. Gee, could it be the heat? Maybe they need to go out and play for a bit

 

[Featherland]

I have 1 pullet that did not start laying till 5 days ago and she is 7 1/2 months. The others from her batch have all been laying for 2 months. I know how you feel I was about to give up on her. I accidently left the light on in the coop till 10:00 one night. I am not giving them extra light right now but I sometimes turn the light on when I count to them to make sure they are all in the coop them in the evenings. I think she needed some extra light to get her started. Maybe you could try giving her extra light.

 

[77horses]

Quote:

No need for that, Coon. No need.