UPDATE: SHE IS SICK!! SUGGESTIONS? UPDATE: Is there a chance a production breed will never produce an egg? see pics of our girl

[WingItRanch]

She definitely looks like she should be laying but I wouldn't worry about giving her extra calcium until she starts.

Crazy how none of yours are laying yet!

I will say that mine didn't start laying until around 27 weeks old and I'm still waiting on 4 to lay. They're 29 weeks old now. It's possible the shortening of daylight might delay laying until spring.

 

[Bawkbok]

I'll do the pelvic check when I have a helper to hold her and I'll let you know the results.

I'll lay off the calcium supplements. Thanks for the response. I'll just have to be patient a while longer....

 

[CoopBoots]

We acquired her at the end of May and were told she was 12 weeks old. Hatched 2/20 which makes her 8 months old. She came from a farm three hours north of us.

This is probably not at all the issue, but could you post a picture of how she looked at that time / 12 weeks? I'm no expert on chicken age but I've been sold a bird that turned out much older than it was advertised as once I paid more attention to its behavior and fitness (lower activity levels, clumsier movement, longer beak and spurs). She's a great looking hen to me, but extremely hen-like for an about-to-lay pullet to my eyes. But I have zero experience with this breed/cross to be at all sure.

 

[Bawkbok]

This is probably not at all the issue, but could you post a picture of how she looked at that time / 12 weeks? I'm no expert on chicken age but I've been sold a bird that turned out much older than it was advertised as once I paid more attention to its behavior and fitness (lower activity levels, clumsier movement, longer beak and spurs). She's a great looking hen to me, but extremely hen-like for an about-to-lay pullet to my eyes. But I have zero experience with this breed/cross to be at all sure.

I've included a couple of decent frontal pics taken in the last couple of weeks, a couple from August and one from end of June - the 5th photo. Sorry they're out of order - I had over 1,200 photos to sort through - yikes. Time to organize. I take far too many chicken pictures.

 

[aart]

I'll do the pelvic check when I have a helper to hold her and I'll let you know the results.

Check as many as you can.
Then you might need to confine them.
Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop/run for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[Bawkbok]

Thank you for the suggestion, @aart. This is the first time we have not had a layer to show the newbies where to lay. Previously, we had good layers that showed the youngins but unfortunately, we lost our good layers to Marek's disease so we had to start all over with new girls.
We have had a ceramic egg in the layer for months now, actually, I've never removed it. She, or they, someone, sleeps in the layer. This is an Omlet Cube set up so I don't feel comfortable locking her in for extended periods alone. I think it would severely stress her out. There is not adequate space or ventilation in there for extended periods and we are still in mid 80s for day time temps. I could separate her there with the small run and leave the younger pullets to the larger run and free range without her but I think that too, would create chaos. We only have the three pullets (not allowed more than four legally where we currently live). I'm kind of at a loss.
I could close the layer door at night and cut off that space so no one sleeps there and force them all to sleep in the roosting area only. But would making that off limits deter them from using it to lay when they do start?

 

[aart]

This is an Omlet Cube set up so I don't feel comfortable locking her in for extended periods alone.

Is there a run?
Confinement to coop and run might work.

 

[Bawkbok]

Yes, the actual coop is attached to a 9x3 run, and that is attached to a 9x12 run which leads to the yard. Both runs have separate lockable gate doors even though they are joined together. I could separate the younger girls in the larger run and open up the small run at night again for the smaller two to roost with the non laying producer.
Poor photo depicting the small run with attached cube, fully tarped in preparation for a high wind thunderstorm when we left the girls out (not hurricane, at which time they are in our house). They had access to the 9x3 run, the coop, food and water. Once the storm passed we removed the tarps and opened the small run gate leading to the larger run.
They really are a tight group and hang together all the time. You don't think separating them through the day would disrupt that flow of zen?
Does increased stress have any bearing on egg laying? Just a few days after she starting squatting, we were hit with hurricane Helene, then two weeks later hurricane Milton. They were in the house but the stress of relocating them for 48 - 72 hours was obvious, more so on the second occasion than the first. The 85 mph wind was relentless for twelve straight hours during the height of the storm and of course it's blustery windy hours prior to and after the eye passes. I wonder if any and all of that has impacted the process.

 

[WingItRanch]

Personally, I wouldn't separate them. It would cause unnecessary stress. And yes, that can affect egg laying. Can you just close them in the entire structure together? Leave the coop open to both runs but don't allow free ranging for a little bit?

 

[Bawkbok]

Yes, I can do that. That will not go over well for any of us, LOL. They love their freedom three times a day and I love watching chicken TV.

I'm assuming the suggestion to leave them locked in is to ensure she does not lay an egg somewhere in the yard? If doing so then she would not use the coop layer but "hold it" until she could lay in the yard during range time? I have no idea how chickens think.

This is all new territory for me so thanks for the suggestions and comments.