14 Week Pullet Singing the Egg Song

[ChickieChickieMama]

Tonight as I was getting ready to lock up my chickens for the night my 14 week old Welsummer pullet jumped on top of the (empty) ensuite brooder/segregation suite and began belting out the Egg Song! (She is named Celine so I guess I knew she'd have a strong voice!)

At present, I only have two hens laying, who started a month or so ago when they were 16.5 weeks old and that is where they go to sing the egg song after they both have finished laying, first thing every morning.

I know she is way too young to start laying yet but Celine's face has gotten red this week; I don't know if she's squatting yet because she's one of my more skittish chickens so doesn't come to close to me lately.

I looked all around and didn't see any sign of an egg - fairy, shell-less blob, or otherwise, but didn't see anything.

Is she practicing already or is there another explanation for her operatic performance tonight?

 

[chuckachucka]

Might be a silly question, but are you 100% sure she is definitely a pullet? If yes then she could just be practising or copying the others. She may even be coming in to lay very early, as a red face is a sign of being ready.

 

[aart]

I had a pullet doing the 'egg song' at about that age this year, surprised me.
She also got very red earlier than I've seen before.
She is the first of that group to lay, just yesterday at 19 weeks.

 

[Shadrach]

It's not an egg song. She's calling for a rooster.
If it was an egg song there would be a egg.

 

[aart]

It's not an egg song. She's calling for a rooster.
If it was an egg song there would be a egg.

I have heard pullets singing the 'egg song' before onset of lay,
usually much closer to the time tho-like a couple weeks rather than months.
Could also be an alarm call.....the sounds very similar to me.

 

[Shadrach]

I have heard pullets singing the 'egg song' before onset of lay,
usually much closer to the time tho-like a couple weeks rather than months.
Could also be an alarm call.....the sounds very similar to me.

Ah, well they sound very different to me
I've got a half finished article explaining why I believe certain sounds mean certain things which I will eventually post. Some of the explanations are very easy to test, well fairly easy, if you've got the time.

 

[aart]

I believe certain sounds mean certain things

I'm sure they do....I am just not fluent in 'chickenese'....nor does it matter much to me.
There have been times when I could distinguish between egg song and alarm call,
I ran down or looked out the window and saw the predator,
but have also ran down looking for pred and it was just an egg celebration. <shrug>

 

[Shadrach]

I could have had some great video clips of me crashing through the undergrowth to investigate what I thought was an alarm call and a metre or so to one side a rooster is crashing through the undergrowth alongside me. The rooster always seemed to get there first.

 

[ChickieChickieMama]

She is definitely not a rooster....she's a Welsummer so it's very easy to tell which is which.

I was in the coop with them when it happened (we have a huge walk in coop and run that we spend a lot of time in with the chickens. It used to be a horse stable and the run is attached outside.) There was no sign of a predator (unless you think she thought of me as one!)

If she's old enough to ask for attention from the roosters, wouldn't that also mean she's old enough to start laying? And I've never seen a hen ask a rooster for attention in that way either, haha...usually they have some serious disdain for the whole process!

Today she has been hopping in and out of the nesting boxes, and for awhile she started making a little neat and then settled into it, so I guess she's just learning from her big sisters and getting ready! Size wise, she's almost as big as my Golden Comets who are 23 weeks old and have been laying for a month and a half now.

I have a few girls from her age group who also have gotten red in the face lately this week and one is starting to squat! Meanwhile, the three girls who are a month older than them are showing no signs at all yet!

 

[ChickieChickieMama]

It's not an egg song. She's calling for a rooster.
If it was an egg song there would be a egg.

Would she really be calling for a rooster if she wasn't mature enough yet to lay? I wasn't trying to be dismissive with my last post, I am new to rooster dynamics....these boys I have were accidental!