A Plucky little pullet and some questions

[Grace11]

Amongst my 20 birds there is a Blue Andelusian, at least thats what Murdochs told me when I bought them all. When she was a chick, it became apparent that something was wrong with her, she didnt grow much, she had what I think was/is pendulous crop. I figured she would make it known that I should cull her when it came time.....

Months later, shes still hanging in there, her poo has never been normal, very wet/watery and never formed like the other birds. I inspect it every so often to make sure its not like cocci or worms or anything and she still has a very large crop area but nothing like it was as a chick. She was the first pullet the rooster practiced his moves/lack thereof on - probably because she was so small and couldnt argue much against his bulk. She is a lot smaller than her fellows, and finally got the red comb and wattles recently. And today I saw her pacing and panting, going in and out of a nest box and flinging straw so she is getting ready to lay! I figured she had some digestive malformation and would never lay. She is very plucky, not at the bottom of the pecking order either-about in the middle. I dont have to feed her extra like some others at the bottom of the pecking order, she gets in there and gobbles the food up. I dont know what will happen with her, but if I even suspect she is suffering, I will take care of her. I'm just totally amazed shes getting ready to lay!

Some questions:
Every video I've seen of a chicken laying an egg, they are sitting down! I've witnessed several eggs being laid in the past 2 weeks and ALL of the pullets have stood up to lay their egg. Whats up with that?

How long is an average time for a pullet to be IN the nest box? Some of them can be in there for an hour or more and if someone comes near it she shrieks at them. Sometimes they shriek for what seems no reason. I have others that will deliberately keep certain birds OUT of the nest boxes, I will be adding more in this coming week, Theres 3 so far and there will be 9 soon and adding "curtains" made of denim.

Another question:
Why do some of the pullets do the egg song but did not lay an egg? Sometimes its seems they are announcing someone elses egg!

I am getting 9-11 eggs a day now. Woot!

 

[Judy]

Every time I've seen an egg laid, the hen has stood for the laying, or at least stood partway; the egg always drops a little distance. Maybe in the videos there is enough hay or whatever in the nest that you can't really tell.

From what I've seen, they vary a lot in how long they stay in the nest box, just as they vary in whether they sing the egg song before, after, or not at all.

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

When our hens sing the egg song, usually 3 will sing, > the hen laying, perhaps a random hen nearby and our rooster. Sooo, unless something has gone terribly wrong, hes not layin eggs. Often a hen will hear the egg song, then participate, so its very common for a non laying pullet to sing the egg song.

I think some hens are "egg shy" (i made the word up, lol), because I have a few hens if you LOOK at them whil etheir laying, they wont lay. And often they just sit in the nest box and wont lay, even if you don't disturb them.

Oh, and our hens sit while they lay, but they slightly hover, so its like a squat but more of a sit. Never had a hen fully stand up while laying, but they all squat sorta.

 

[Grace11]

Another question about the little Blue Andelusion. "She" has grown a LOT since I Iast posted, bigger everything, including her comb and wattles and "she" is now growing SPURS! Gahhh! I have seen the rooster mate her many times. She sits on the nest sometimes and has never laid anything to my knowledge. She is almost 8 mos old. She is a beautiful bird and starts getting anxious sometimes, so I put her in the dog crate to get away from the other chickens and she loves being in there. She will immediately fix her nest and sit on it, even for several hours. Never an egg yet. I really think it will be a miracle for her to lay.
I have a buff Andelusian, that has been laying every other day since 19 weeks.......