20 week hen Cawing and pacing

[littlekit]

Hi! My hen is acting odd. Distressed, cawing and pacing around. I'm expecting her to lay her first egg any day now.
I massaged her abdomen and she is pooping and not blocked that I can tell/feel.
Is there anything I can do for her? Is this egg-laying behavior. These are my first chickens.

 

[gritsar]

Does she have a nice nestbox all ready for her? Adding some golf balls is a good idea if you haven't already. Sit her in the nestbox, so she knows it's there and what it's there for.
Sounds like you are about to get an egg.

 

[Happy Chooks]

You're going to get an egg! Mine got really vocal, pacing back and forth from the coop. And then finally they settled down and laid the egg.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

Quote:
When I got my older hens, they wouldn't use the nest box at first. They had come from a place where they had no nest box, and were used to laying on the ground. I didn't have any golf balls, so I took a couple of store bought egg and poked two tiny holes in them and blew the insides out. Then I placed them in the nestbox where I wanted them to lay. It took them a while, but they finally figured it out

I'm new to pullets, my first chicken was a roo, then my other girls were 2 year olds when I got them, so already laying. This new girl has me so frustrated!

Good luck, hopefully you'll get an egg soon!!!

 

[littlekit]

Thanks! The others keep following her into the nest box and won't let her be. I've moved them into bigger quarters and set the nestbox on the floor nicely padded with straw. I'll try the golf ball, too. I'm so relieved that this is normal behavior.

Thank you so much!!!

 

[momof2monkeys]

Waiting for the first egg pic!

 

[littlekit]

OOOOHHHHHH MYYYY! You were all right! This is the cutest tan speckled egg I ever saw. Our First and so coooool.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Congrats!!!!!

 

[gritsar]

Congrats. My first girl to lay had a lounge chair for a nestbox. Hard the hardest time convincing her that she didn't need to come on the screened porch and into her lounge chair each time.

 

[Iowa Roo Mom]

Congrats!