Year old LF Buff Brahma hen not laying???

[NGT ANGL]

I bought a trio of LF Buff Brahmas this past March. One of the hens died a couple of weeks later - no apparent reason - looked poorly one day and dead the next. I was told when I bought them that they were hatched in May of '08. Prior to the one hen dying, I had gotten two eggs - one OK, the other soft shelled and broken. The remaining hen and roo seem to be very healthy except they are housed together and the hen has lost feathers on her back due to the amorous attentions of the roo. Other than those first two eggs (don't know which hen they came from), I have only gotten 2-3 eggs from the remaining hen since March. I have read that the LF Brahma's mature more slowly, thus are older when they start laying but this seems a bit extreme.? I am wondering if they weren't much older than I was told when I bought them??? There isn't much information about Brahma's that I have been able to find and I am curious if anyone on BYC has more knowledge or has had a similar experience with this breed? Thanks

 

[gritsar]

My last LF brahma to lay was 9 1/2 months old. I agree that yours is extreme. Perhaps they are older than you were told. Too much stress from the roo's attention could cause problems too.

 

[NGT ANGL]

Quote:
I had wondered about that...what little I was able to observe them before the one hen died led me to believe that the one that died was the dominant hen. Maybe poor Betty Brahma just can't handle the new title of head gal and the added responsibility of all of the attention from Billy the roo...Thank you for your insights!