Laurda1842
In the Brooder
Good afternoon! I am a new backyard chicken owner, and my hens have had some abnormal laying behavior this past week. I have two polish bantams (7 months) who have been laying 5 eggs a week consistently since June. They have almost always used their nesting boxes with one or two exceptions. We had a really bad heat wave in Maryland last week for about 4 days (over 100), and they stopped laying. It has been about a week, and I found two eggs cracked in the coop, but they have not gotten back to their regular laying schedule yet. The temperature is unseasonably cool here now. Is this normal? They are eating drinking, and active. We also have another pullet who just started laying, and she has laid once her nesting box, but I found two eggs cracked under the perch where she sleeps. I keep my eye on the chickens throughout the day, so I think she must have just popped them out really early in the AM while she was still on her perch. I read that this can happen with newly laying pullets, but is there anything I can do? Thank you!!