Eggs Under Roost

[wmgatorfan08]

I have 12 ISA brown pullets. They are approaching 16 weeks. I got my first egg on Monday and have gotten one per day since then. This morning I went to check on them and found two eggs without shells under the roosting pole. They were not there last night when I closed things up. Is this typical?? Thanks

 

[junebuggena]

That happened to me a few weeks ago. Totally and completely normal. It takes a while for everything to start working together. First time layers will frequently lay eggs before the shell gets deposited. Sometimes she won't realize that she needs to lay, until the egg is already on the way out.

 

[Blooie]

It's not at all unusual to have this happen when they start laying. In fact, I found the same thing every once in awhile even in my year old girls. It takes a little time for the entire egg laying assembly line to settle out. Give them a little time and you'll find that everything will balance out. That said, if you have one who consistently does this, she may in fact have some reproductive issues and she'll require more observation to see if she'll have ongoing issues with egg laying. I had one pullet, Beatrice, who started her career with rubber eggs under the roost, she settled out and gave me good eggs for few months, then was back to eggs with funky shells, or no shells, or would go a couple of weeks without laying,even though she's spend time on the nest and act like she wanted to lay. We lost her, and we're pretty sure it was all tied together.

But for now, no worries. They're young, and 99.9% of the time they'll settle out and do just great. (I made up that statistic, by the way!)

Even one or two funky eggs as they mature isn't unusual.

 

[wmgatorfan08]

So I've been blocking off the nesting boxes at night prevent roosting in them. I go in the coop first thing this morning and find two soft shelled eggs that had been eaten last night. They were not there last night when I closed things up. I have not gotten an egg since Wednesday. I'm worried that if I did get an egg they have eaten it or is it normal for them to eat soft shelled eggs?

 

[junebuggena]

Soft shelled eggs are fair game. If they were laid while the pullet was on the roost, the fall could have broken it open. Eating the occasional soft shelled egg will not lead to egg eating.

 

[alleydebbie]

My RIR hen laid her first egg yesterday! She ran to the nest and sat in there like she was going to lay today but she didn't. Does that sound normal?

 

[junebuggena]

It's very normal for pullets to sit in the nest boxes for several hours and not produce an egg.

 

[DrTacosMD]

My hens did that when they first started laying. The first eggs are much smaller so sometimes the chicken will not even notice it and drop it out randomly while eating, roosting, dust bathing.

And sometimes those first few eggs don't have shells and sometimes they do. But within 2-4 weeks they should be laying bigger and more consistently in the mornings to noon.