1st year hens not laying

[FrostRanger]

Young pullets don’t moult.
Are you sure she is 10 months old?

Many chickens wait for late winter/early spring to lay their first egg.
Depends on the age/ breed/ individual.

I have 2 pullets from June. Two bantam rock sisters. Both started to lay at the start of December. One stopped again at the end of December. The other continued to lay.

Mine didn't get the memo either as 6 of the 7 molted end of last year and Juniper just started molting this week. Sure animals have tendencies but nature does as it will

 

[BDutch]

Pullets can molt. Mine certainly didn't get the memo to lay through winter. 3 of 4 have blown out a good number of feathers and currently none are laying, not even the one that still has all her feathers and a bright red comb.

I never had a pullet moulting. Only had heritage breeds or not pure heritage descendants.

The industrial laying hybrids start to lay around 16 weeks and continuously lay until they are about 18 months old. These hens get killed around their first moult when they stop producing. Inside the stable they have artificial light for at least 14 h a day. These hybrids normally lay through their first winter in more natural circumstances without xtra light too. Sounds great, but the downside of these industrial hybrids is serious health issues after 3-5 years.

Most people on BYC have heritage breeds or barnyard mixes in more natural circumstances. My spring chicks all started to lay after the darkest months (end January/start February) or stopped laying for at least 6 weeks. The winter breaks get longer if the chickens get older.

The one that hasn’t stopped laying so far is 1 bantam Amrock who hatched in June. She even gave me 4 -5 eggs in weeks with just a poor 8 hours of daylight. Amrock’s are a kind of European family to Plymouth rock.

 

[West Bend]

My first thought was maybe they're still stressed out due to the predator attack.

 

[BDutch]

My first thought was maybe they're still stressed out due to the predator attack.

@4chicksmom didn’t mention any predator attack in this thread.

 

[4chicksmom]

@4chicksmom didn’t mention any predator attack in this thread.

I did say that we lost a bird on Christmas eve to a predator. She was my Lavender Orpington. But the Marans and the EE weren't laying before the attack. They hadn't laid since the first week of December.

 

[BDutch]

Sorry, mist that information.
@West Bend is right.
A predator attack can give a lot of stress and a mourning reaction as well. Being upset for some weeks is not uncommon.

 

[LaFleche]

Yes, I bought them all as chicks, so absolutely positive on their age. They started laying in July and August. The marans started laying at 18 or 19 weeks, which i thought was early and she's bigger than the rest, but I got her and my EE at the same time as day old chicks.

With your other hen being killed by a predator around Christmas, the molting of your surviving birds might be due to stress as well as the lack of eggs.
Your EE even missing her entire tail after the attack has me thinking that they suffered quite a shock and need time to readjustm

 

[4chicksmom]

I didn't think that stress would be a factor in the molt, but that does sound like that's what's happening. It was scary for me to find my hen half eaten. We got lucky that only 1 was killed.

 

[Mrs. K]

One of my late summer pullets started laying today!

 

[4chicksmom]

Update: My Marans chicken Poppy, laid another egg today and sang the song of her people. It's smaller than her previous eggs and not a dark shade like she laid before, but it's an egg!