Year old BLRW still not laying

[BLaBauve]

This is my 1 year old BLRW. She has not started laying yet. We are in Georgia so it's not super cold here. Her sister, another BLRW started laying months ago. Her comb is still very pale. She also acts different than the other chickens. She seems to just exist. She doesn't scratch around much or act as lively as the others. She's always the last one out of the coop in the morning and never seems excited to get to the food. She has been like this since I got her at 4 months. Is this normal behavior? It's fine if she's a late bloomer, just thought we would've seen some signs by now. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[wildorchid053]

maybe she was older and not 4 mos when you got her. could you tell the diffence?

 

[HEChicken]

I think if she was older, her comb/wattles would be more developed & redder. Sorry, I have no idea what might be wrong with her. She is *SO* pretty though! But based on the current comb/wattle development, she doesn't look like she's planning on starting any time soon either. Hopefully someone else who has experienced something similar will read this. I have heard of several recently who laid their eggs at 9 months or older...

 

[keesmom]

She is very pretty!

I'm not sure I can help you much, other than to say maybe she's an internal layer, or she has something anatomically wrong that prevents her from laying. I have a 5 year old EE that laid her first ever egg last spring. I didn't think she ever would lay. The eggs she produced were torpedo shaped instead of egg shaped so I guess she has something internally wrong that interfered with laying. Why it didn't kill her before now I'll never know.

 

[BLaBauve]

Wow, I can't believe your EE didn't lay until she was 5!

 

[nanawendy]

I can only be a cheerleader cause I certainly have no idea, I'd say she gets a pass though... She is sooo beautiful

 

[catdaddy66]

In my reference book on raising poultry it has pics of layers with full, red combs/wattles and non-layers w/ pale, small and shrunken combs/wattles. From the pic, yours seems to have the latter. Check out her vent and pubic bones, as layers have large, moist vents and wide, pliable pubic bones. Can also tell layers and stage of laying by their bleaching pattern.