5 months old no eggs and no crowing

[RaesChicks]

Hi all,

I have 12 chickens. 3 orpingtons, 2 black australorps, 4 Easter eggers , and 1 silkie. They are all at least 5 months old now, the only ones who still have pink combs are my eggers and their little walnut or pea combs are starting to redden.

Based on behaviors I think at least 1 of my eggers and my silkie are roosters. However, I haven’t had one egg or heard one crow out of any of them. Only a couple of my hens even make that famous “bock-ba-gock” sound and only when they fall off their perch or get left behind in the grazing.

They look healthy and are always chasing me down for food. They are on laying pellets and I give them scratch grains once a day thrown across the yard or the run to keep them from mobbing me (if I don’t, they will run under foot until I get the pink cup they want to see). I’m just wondering what I should be doing differently.

They sleep in the coop and split their day between the run and free ranging unless we are home all day and then it’s full time yard time. They don’t go in the coop during the day though even when we leave it open for them. Am I missing something?

 

[nuthatched]

All pullets, it may be too late in the year for the to start.

 

[RaesChicks]

All pullets, it may be too late in the year for the to start.

I can’t find a good picture and of course they’ve all gone to bed. But is there another reason they’d ostracize the silkie? Fluffy and little Charlotte used to be bosom buddies until a couple weeks ago. Now any time Charlotte gets near the other hens Fluff is in her face strutting her neck out back and forth, tail vertically fanned, and wings flapping. When the hens aren’t near they walk together foraging. It’s the oddest thing.

 

[nuthatched]

I can’t find a good picture and of course they’ve all gone to bed. But is there another reason they’d ostracize the silkie? Fluffy and little Charlotte used to be bosom buddies until a couple weeks ago. Now any time Charlotte gets near the other hens Fluff is in her face strutting her neck out back and forth, tail vertically fanned, and wings flapping. When the hens aren’t near they walk together foraging. It’s the oddest thing.

Birds of a feather....is a true statement. Silkies can't see well, so they're likely avoiding her so she'll be the first to go in the event of a predator incident

 

[RaesChicks]

I can’t find a good picture and of course they’ve all gone to bed. But is there another reason they’d ostracize the silkie? Fluffy and little Charlotte used to be bosom buddies until a couple weeks ago. Now any time Charlotte gets near the other hens Fluff is in her face strutting her neck out back and forth, tail vertically fanned, and wings flapping. When the hens aren’t near they walk together foraging. It’s the oddest thing.

All pullets, it may be too late in the year for the to start.

This is fluffy, it’s bigger and heavier than the other hens and always seems to be standing away from the flock in this neck elongated position

 

[nuthatched]

This is fluffy, it’s bigger and heavier than the other hens and always seems to be standing away from the flock in this neck elongated position

None of that means anything . She has a female specific color pattern.
No red wings, no male specific feathers, no big red, comb and waddles. Nothing that says male

 

[Mrs. K]

I too think they will lay well after the solstice. As you are in the south, they should start up then.

Those ornamental birds are darling, but often times people just can't keep them in a standard flock. Maybe if you had a couple of them. Some flocks are more tolerant, some are less.

Mrs K

 

[Bananabread]

this is why some advocate getting chicks in October/novemeber so that they're hitting maturation right as the days lengthen and you maximize egg production for their first year...of course on the other side, some argue maximizing egg production as pullets may not be best for them as they're still developing and the winter gives the young pullet time still to devote energy towards growing still without the burden of satiating our human consumption.... 6 of one, half a dozen of the other i guess... either way... at this point, sounds like you'll have amazing egg production come spring

 

[Sally PB]

I have had 5 month old pullets start laying in November. I now have 6 month old pullets who have not yet started laying.



Yeah, the waiting is hard.

 

[BonnieBlue]

My five girls are just over 5 months. I've heard the "boc boc BAAAAK" a couple of times, one is submissive, and one's comb is gettin larger and red. But no eggs.

At this point, I think because of the time of year, I won't get any eggs until January. The more I think about it, the more I'm ok with that. If their bodies are more mature and can handle egg laying better, I think that will serve them, and me, better in the long run.