Blue Wheaten Pullet not laying

[DeWayne Edgin]

I have a Blue Wheaten pullet that just turned a year old and has never laid an egg. I read some posts on here before about a bone being out of place that can cause hens pain and not lay. Is there anything i can try to get her to start laying? She has been in a pen with a rooster since December. Just the two birds and no others. The weather has been warm here for a few weeks now and she is my only hen not laying.

[Sharon Yorks]

Hi DeWayne,

Would her pen happen to be a little darker than where the other hen are penned? The reason I ask is I have a hen that was hatched last year on March 15th. She just started laying this past March 30th. With the weather we have been having, she wasn't able to get out much and her pen is darker than all of my others. It may just be a light issue. Is she looking and acting fine otherwise?

Another thought, are you sure she isn't laying and then eating her egg? Just a thought. 

[DeWayne Edgin]

I do not think her pen is as dark as most of my other birds are. All of my chickens are in breeding pens outside under a roof that extends from my barn. There is only one wall and both ends and the front are open. I did have it closed up for the winter but my it wasn't dark in there. I have been out there getting eggs every hour and sometimes every half hour in the last couple months. I didn't want them to get to cold and i was incubating them. I never saw her in her egg box not even one time. some of my chickens will lay in a corner of the pen instead of the egg box but she never did. The weather got real warm here and i toke down my plywood, so they get lots of sun and fresh air. My Wheatens all came from the same guy and it toke my other ones 10 and 11 months to start laying. I got a Blue Wheaten pullet from a different guy and she started laying for me at 6 months old. I am guessing now that it is a problem with the strain she came from.

[Sharon Yorks]

What time of year was she hatched? I noticed that some of my pullets that were hatched in late April or May wait until the following spring to start laying.

[Beth C]

What time of year was she hatched? I noticed that some of my pullets that were hatched in late April or May wait until the following spring to start laying.

Good point. I've had several that were over a year old when they laid their first egg, and I'm pretty sure it was timing. I mostly hatch in cold weather to avoid coccidia, so they hit point of lay in the hottest part of the year, and I don't get many that will lay in extreme heat. By the time it cools down they're molting. Even with lights it's usually December before I see an egg, and w/o lights it's March. However, the 5-6 month old birds that hatched under broodies (I always have a couple) in the warm months started laying right around the same time as the one-year-olds. Wish I could hatch birds in October!

[DeWayne Edgin]

Well maybe because she was hatched April 24th 2012. But i have 7 other hens from the same hatch that were laying in January and February. There is three Wheaten, one Blue, and three Buffs that i have left that were all laying for awhile now. I guess she just needs more time.

[bantamhill]

Beth:

I actually hatch in late summer on purpose. The pullets normally start laying at the right time and, if I have extras, they fetch a premium in the spring.

DeWayne:

I realize you may have to breed from this pullet, but you may want to track offspring in the event that the pullet is not a good producer once she starts to lay. Ameraucana need to be dual-purpose . . . meat and eggs!

[DeWayne Edgin]

Ok. I am trying to get chicks from my other Blue Wheatens right now, so maybe i will get a few nice ones from them and just sell this hen.

[DeWayne Edgin]

Well she finally laid an egg, but she forgot to leave the shell to! A nice little soft egg.  http://s1275.photobucket.com/user/Dewayne069/media/number%202/Picture8432_zps6e411d05.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

[Sharon Yorks]

This happened to me once and I "think" it was from a lack of calcium. I added some oyster shell to her feed and also made up a sticky mixture of her regular feed, raw egg & oyster shell so she couldn't pick around it. Her eggs returned to normal 3-4 days later. All of the birds are on the same feed (Pen Pal Egg Maker) and I've never had any trouble with that before. Not sure if a lack of calcium is even the cause of the problem, but it's worth a try. If egg shells are made up of calcium, makes sense to me that a lack of it means no egg shell. I suppose some birds just need more than others at times. Hope that helps. 

[DeWayne Edgin]

I think it was because it was her first egg. She is laying a nice normal egg now. I have had other chickens do this before on their first egg. They were all farm chickens that just ran all over our farm and roosted were ever they wanted. My Ameraucanas are getting Purina layer feed and left over table scraps and some old hamburg that we had.

[dak]

Don't get crazy with the calcium, this was just a "starter egg".  This can also happen in a hen after a molt when she resumes laying after a long break.