Year-old hen never laid

[TinkleTurkey]

I got her last march, she was about a month old. So she's about 14 months old now. Shes a frizzled bantam cochin.

She lives in a run with her mate, and a polish hen. The polish/mix breed hen is about 7 months old and an avid layer. I know the eggs I find belong only to the polish hen because they are huge and always look the same, and I've hatched them. The friz hen never leaves her pen, so I know she hasnt been laying them elsewhere. I've never found evidence of broken eggs or any other suspicious activity. Oh, and she seems perfectly healthy and behaves normally.

And YES, I'm absolutely positive that its a hen.

Is it possible that she's a dud? Could it be that she'll never lay an egg in her life?

 

[columbiacritter]

Chicken gentics is really complex and they do some strange things often enough not to be rare, like being hermaphrodites(being both sexes). If your hen is a hen and has never laid but is healthy she might be a he/she or just not have the right bits to lay. My husband has a bantam pullet that is absolutely a pullet but she is showing the colors of a roo of her type. At some point we are going to segragate her to see if she ever lays. We're assuming she/he never will.

When my grandafther raised large numbers of layers he said 1 out of 100 would never lay. When he culled them and butchered he would often look at their reproductive tract and it would usually be very small and non functional even in birds well into laying age.

 

[valentinebaby]

I have a 2 year old BO hen that stopped laying completely about 6 months ago. She was always very broody and laid an egg only about 3 times a week. I think some chickens are just better than others. One of her "sisters", a NHR, is the same age and lays as well as my younger girls...so you never really know!

 

[TinkleTurkey]

Thats great to know, I was hoping to breed them, many people have asked when I'm going to have chicks, I'm guessing never...
I'm sure I can find her a home with someone who doesnt mind keeping her just as a pet. At least she has "cute" going for her.