Starting to believe the hype is just that: hype.

[Jess N Jeff]

I have an Australorp that I hatched myself. For one, she didn't start laying until she was 35 weeks....grrrrrr! For 2, she may lay 2 eggs a week if that. She eats great and looks fat and happy, she is even top hen, but she is just not a good layer. She at least will cuddle with me so she is a keeper.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes its a wash.

 

[Fred's Hens]

BigDaddy'sGurl :

I have tried segregating her but then she turns a little aggressive

When I say small, it's more like a medium size store egg.... maybe it's taking her a while to work the kinks out? I know she is around the age the seller told me: he runs a business locally where he sells point of lay pullets and he alternates breeds seasonally so he only has P O L pullets of each breed available for a few months through the year.

Charity has me confused. If she acted sick I would be worried, but she is frisky and fancy free at the moment, just not paying her way!!

I typically get 25 pullet chicks at a time. At the POL, I usually sell half of them. Sheer economics.

Of the 12 or 13 pullets I keep, there is almost always a dud. Nature isn't going to hit a home run every time.
Here on the farm, we may have favorites, but not pets, really. We just don't/can't feed a free loader. If her classmates are laying 6 to 7 eggs a week and the "dud" will only produce 3 or 4, she get uninvited, shall we shall. Facts of life. Here's to hoping your Charity struts her stuff soon.​

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Thanks everyone for your kindness and encouragement! Charity is back on an egg strike...no egg for 6 days now...if she wasn't so pretty...

 

[The Fairy Godmartyr]

When my sex links started to lay, their eggs were probably a "medium" size. Within a few months, they were larger than the grocery store "large" eggs. BUT, once they started, they didn't stop. We were just about daily from the first egg. Maybe starting during the cold, dark months has thrown her off a bit? I agree with the others, she may be laying way better when spring comes.

 

[silkiechicken]

Fred's Hens :

she get uninvited, shall we shall.

Around here duds get invited..to dinner.

 

[ScotianChick]

I have a RIR who doesn't lay at all

They happen... my RIR is 10 months old and she doesn't lay. My other RIR lays EVERY single day. My SLWs lay every other day.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

Well Charity has still not produced an egg...I've lost count of days...

I don't like gold comets anymore and the stew pot is looking better and better.

 

[mrsengeseth]

if it's any consilation, I have five duds right now...in a flock of...five.

 

[BigDaddy'sGurl]

mrsengeseth


We can definitely commiserate...

I had planned on investing in a whole flock of these birds come spring to start an egg business...no longer! I will go with what seems to be working for me: barred rocks.

 

[Fred's Hens]

When my pullets are in full lay, long about 20 weeks, and IF THE WEATHER permits, which it will not this week, brrrrrrr....
I get up early, take my lawn chair and my coffee and I spend an hour with them in the barn. It is low tech, but it works. I chart them. I make a note on every hen. Typically, 12 out of 13 will lay within an hour. Bang bang bang, as red sex links do.

I put a temporary leg band on the one who did not lay.
The next day I do the same thing. If the leg banded pullet still doesn't approach the box, she is on my watch list. I pull her out and she gets her own pen. If she lays, finally, she can go back to the flock. If she doesn't lay, even after being in a quiet place, with good food and drink, she's has no future here.