What makes a chicken coop easy to live with?

[A chickychickychick-ENN!!]

I got all my hens at point of lay in August. The Mendlesham Blue (the grey one in the pic) and Fenning Black had quite developed combs and these now look red and full. The Fenning Sussex (white one) and Speckledy didn't.

 

So I thought the Blue and Black would be the first layers. I'm now getting three eggs a day but can't work out who's laying. One is dark brown and speckled suggesting the Speckledy (who is a bit Maran) is laying. But her comb is the least developed and not very red-flush yet.

 

The three who 'squat' a lot (on their own and when I go close to them) are the Black the Speckledy and the Sussex. This suggests to me that THEY are the layers, not the Blue.

 

So I'm wondering if Blues don't lay much or take longer to start laying? They're all from roughly the same date of birth. The Blue is quite standoffish. The other three cluck around each other but the Blue stands back from them, and me. She's quite flighty and run-away-ey.

 

Any thoughts on Blues?

 

Anna x

[moochoo]

My Mendlesham blue, Violet is my best layer. In fact she has only taken two days off since she started to lay last year.

I wouldn't worry, she could just be late bloomer. Once she gets going there'll be no stopping her. It's still very early days yet if you only got them in August.

[superjules]

If she's top of the pecking order I'd be very surprised if she's not laying. Some chooks don't crouch and when our Yoda started laying she was seriously remedial in the headgear department, so neither of those indicators are totally foolproof.