A few chicken and egg questions...

[Magpie31]

I have four hens (two Barred Rocks and two Easter Eggers). I got them as started pullets. The hatchery says all their started pullets are between 16 and 20 weeks old, and I have had them for three weeks. The info I have seen here and elsewhere tells me that I might start getting eggs fairly soon.

One of my hens (an Easter Egger...she is clearly the brains of the flock) is acting...odd. She stayed in the coop all morning, while the others were in the run. She wasn't in the nest boxes, but she settled into a spot on the floor of the coop, and shifted the bedding around until she had made herself a little divot (who am I kidding, she tore up the coop like crazy, moved all the litter around into a heap, and settled into the middle of it!), and there she stayed, clucking to herself. I was kind of thinking she might be trying to lay and I was pacing around like a relative on the L&D wing of the hospital!

Now she is down in the run, hanging with the other girls, and no egg. So, is she just playing around, or is she gearing up to lay? I am kind of guessing it's the second. If so, is there anything I can do to make her comfortable? How do I encourage her to lay in the nest box? Or do I need to? Honestly, I don't see any reason why she couldn't lay wherever she wants to, except that it would be easier for me to retrieve the eggs.

Thanks in advance for your help! I have to say, I am so excited for the next stage of chicken-keeping! They have turned out to be even more interesting and entertaining than I had hoped (and I have been dreaming of having chickens for 22 years).

 

[Tanith BHH]

Hi.
She is probably just trying it out. I would recomend putting in a dummy egg (you can buy these on the internet or in farm shops) or you can use another egg (just make sure you mark it using a felt tip etc. so if a hen does start laying you know which is which) and place it in the nestbox. Your hens will see it and it will encourage them to start laying, and make them want to lay in the right place!
I have found it also helps if the nestbox(s) have more bedding in than anywhere else (This is from my own experience and I could be interpreting their behaviour wrong).
I also recommend using straw instead of sawdust as they may be in the nestbox a long time and breathing in the dust from the sawdust could cause breathing problems.

Good luck and have a good time enjoying your hens!

 

[Magpie31]

Thanks for the quick reply! Yep, thats pretty much what I was thinking too. I will put a little more bedding down in the nest boxes and get a dummy egg out there to give her the idea. It's exciting to see her moving in that direction!

 

[Judy]

Golf balls are very commonly used as fake eggs -- it's all I have ever used. A box of the cheap ones at the dollar store isn't much. Plastic hollow Easter eggs are good, too, if you happen to have some, though you would want to fill them with something like sand and glue them. They don't care what color they are. I've also use an egg shaped rock successfully -- I think a snake ate my rock.

I also like hay in the nest box. I'm not sure you really have to have any fake egg at all, though it makes sense to me for chickens who are just getting used to laying. Half my next boxes have golf balls, half not, and there doesn't seem to be any relationship between where the golf balls are and where I find eggs. But then mine have all been laying for over a year.

Have a great time with your chickens!