Emrosenagel
Chirping
- Oct 2, 2020
- 77
- 42
- 91
Hello!
So, some info first — my hen is a 9 month old Cochin bantam. She went broody back in January and hatched eggs on February 14th, gave up on the chicks about 2 weeks ago and started laying again. Last week we had some seriously hot days, and Gil (that’s my hen) has always been a later in the day layer. She decided to lay her egg at like 2pm, peak temps for the day at around 94. I noticed she was a having a hard time with the heat and I felt bad for her (probably my mistake, but I can’t go back) and brought her inside in a crate to lay. Did the same thing the next day, too. Then things went back to normal for a few days — but yesterday Gil demanded to be brought inside to lay. She yelled and paced and came up to the door screaming at me, so I let her in. And, of course, she layed. Today was a bit different. I thought maybe she wouldn’t lay today, because by 5 I had no egg from her. But she was acting like she needed to lay — yelling, pacing, jumping up on stuff — so I locked her in the beating boxes for a bit. I came back in a half hour and she was eager to get out, but no egg. So I went about my evening until it was time to put them to bed at 745, and noticed Gil was still frantic. Very odd behavior, since she refused to lay. So I let her out into the yard and she went straight to the back door! I let her in, she went into the crate and only 5 minutes later I had an egg. At 8pm!
my questions are: is it normal for an egg to hold in an egg until she’s where she wants to lay it? Could it be she is preparing a clutch to hatch and wants them all in the same nest? She did sit on her egg yesterday after she layed it, and proceeded to make a nest around herself. Gil did do something like this the first time she went broody, like she could never find the perfect spot, and made such a fuss over it.
Thanks! And sorry for such a long post !
So, some info first — my hen is a 9 month old Cochin bantam. She went broody back in January and hatched eggs on February 14th, gave up on the chicks about 2 weeks ago and started laying again. Last week we had some seriously hot days, and Gil (that’s my hen) has always been a later in the day layer. She decided to lay her egg at like 2pm, peak temps for the day at around 94. I noticed she was a having a hard time with the heat and I felt bad for her (probably my mistake, but I can’t go back) and brought her inside in a crate to lay. Did the same thing the next day, too. Then things went back to normal for a few days — but yesterday Gil demanded to be brought inside to lay. She yelled and paced and came up to the door screaming at me, so I let her in. And, of course, she layed. Today was a bit different. I thought maybe she wouldn’t lay today, because by 5 I had no egg from her. But she was acting like she needed to lay — yelling, pacing, jumping up on stuff — so I locked her in the beating boxes for a bit. I came back in a half hour and she was eager to get out, but no egg. So I went about my evening until it was time to put them to bed at 745, and noticed Gil was still frantic. Very odd behavior, since she refused to lay. So I let her out into the yard and she went straight to the back door! I let her in, she went into the crate and only 5 minutes later I had an egg. At 8pm!
my questions are: is it normal for an egg to hold in an egg until she’s where she wants to lay it? Could it be she is preparing a clutch to hatch and wants them all in the same nest? She did sit on her egg yesterday after she layed it, and proceeded to make a nest around herself. Gil did do something like this the first time she went broody, like she could never find the perfect spot, and made such a fuss over it.
Thanks! And sorry for such a long post !
