20 week old chicken making noises like it laid an egg but no egg...

[backyardahens]

Hi, I have a 20 week old sex link and leghorn both have not laid any eggs yet.. today I was in the house and heard one of them making the same noises that a hen would make after laying an egg... by the time I was able to get my shoes on and go outside it was over and no egg in sight. Could this mean she is practicing? Normally she isn't that loud!!

Thanks!

 

[drumstick diva]

Yes, she may be practicing, or feel like she laid an egg but hasn't. Laying is something very new to a young pullet - they don't really know what is happening to them.

 

[Teila]

Howdy backyardahens

I have had some newbies to laying sing the song a couple of days before the eggs actually arrive.

Just a thought also, have you hunted around really well; she may not have laid her egg in the nest box.

I have a little Bantam Cochin whose eggs I keep finding all over the place. She does lay them in the nest box but they get caught up in her skirts or in the feathers on her feet so that when she jumps out of the nest box she takes the egg with her and it ends up dropping off somewhere along her travels

 

[N F C]

I agree with the other greeters...she's either just practicing or she laid some place other than the nesting boxes. Sometimes it take a while for them to get it all worked out. Hope those eggs show up soon, waiting is hard.

Nice to have you join us!

 

[shortgrass]

Welcome

The egg song! So frustrating... Are they laying, passing gas, cheering on a fellow hen, lost....

I find the origin of the egg song very intriguing... Different theories abound to why.. One being so all hens can know where the common nest is; so they can lay all in one area.. Another being to call predators away from the nest and follow them instead... Yet another that it's for the hen that was laying tall and find her fellow hens afte getting separated...

Most days they seem to just do it for fun...

Here's a doozy lol, my rooster sings the egg song too

 

[N F C]

Some of my girls sing the egg song when another hen lays. Sort of a choir, lol.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

 

[Blooie]

Ah, you got to hear her rehearsing for her big day!

Welcome!