Actual time it takes to push an egg out?

[Sally PB]

The strange thing is that she isn't eating the egg, nor is she pecking any other eggs in other nesting boxes. It doesn't happen every day either, maybe twice/week and always on the pointy end of the egg. I wondered if maybe it was getting cracked if she stood while laying and it fell to the box floor. I keep straw in the boxes but they always seem to push the straw out to the edges exposing the plywood.

When laid, the egg comes out round end first.

I too have seen pecked eggs on the pointy end. I wondered if it might be the hen pushing the egg back under her? Not broodiness, just "Hey, get back where you belong," type of thing. I've seen that when there's just one (real) egg in the nest, ie, the one that that hen laid.

 

[LaurenRitz]

Are the eggs speckled at all? Maybe she's picking at the spots. My girls seem endlessly intrigued by my freckles.

 

[Possum-Pie]

From an evolutionary standpoint, it is very important that a hen (in the wild) find the optimum place to lay an egg. Too many predators are waiting to eat any laid egg. In our modern domestic coops, this isn't as important, but they are still "hardwired" to be cautious of a location. Some experts suggest that the "egg song" that hens and roosters use after an egg is laid is to distract predators from the egg location. I'm not sure though--My girls and Roo sing the song of egg laying even when there is no egg, just a few hens in the boxes. They sure are a mystery!

 

[Possum-Pie]

Sally PB, Thank you so much for clarifying that! I wasn't sure which end came out first, so if the fat end of the egg comes out first, a hen is definitely pecking at the pointy end, so it's not a drop crack. I haven't noticed it in the past several days so who knows why...

LaurenRitz, Funny you should mention speckles...Since I adopted 4 hens from someone else, I've been getting speckled eggs. I'm SURE it is only one hen who is laying them b/c I only get 1/day...I've read it could mean some kind of gland problem, but all of my girls seem happy/healthy. None of the cracked eggs were speckled though.

 

[Sally PB]

Sally PB, Thank you so much for clarifying that! I wasn't sure which end came out first, so if the fat end of the egg comes out first, a hen is definitely pecking at the pointy end, so it's not a drop crack.

When an egg begins the journey, it's coming down the pipe pointy end first. It's laid round end first. So at some point, it turns around and is sideways.

85 gram egg:

Ow. Just. Ow.

 

[Possum-Pie]

One thing that surprised me when I got chickens... "Large" and even "Jumbo" eggs in the store are tiny compared to my hens. Friends/family give us Jumbo egg cartons and our eggs are usually so big that I can't even get the lids closed... Yeah, Ouch.

 

[Bweis13]

Check this little pointy one out! Our chickens usually lay medium and large eggs. I love when I get double yolks, but that’s pretty rare with my small flock at the moment. I got a few chicks for my sister a couple of years ago, and one of them ended up laying a double yolk every time she laid an egg! They couldn’t fit those eggs in a jumbo size container either. It must’ve taken a toll on her though because she only lived about a year.

I also have hens that sing the egg song for no reason sometimes too!

I’ve never been able to fix a serious egg eater. I just try to get to the eggs before they get a chance to eat them if I can. Make sure they have plenty of water. One year the neighbor kid we had taking care of the chickens while we were on vacation didn’t keep their water full, and that started a big time egg eating problem. I don’t know if they were just stressed or if they somehow knew there was liquid in there, but we dealt with egg eating for quite a long time after that. I was so ticked off! I do put ceramic eggs from TSC in there if they start eating them, and that does seem to help after a while.

One year (totally different birds) I don’t think I was giving enough oyster shell, so the eggs were incredibly fragile, and that started some egg eating too. Now I make sure they have plenty.

We also have hens that will sometimes lay in the afternoon. This is the first group I’ve seen that with. All of my other ones over the years laid in the morning.

 

[SmiYa0126]

One thing that surprised me when I got chickens... "Large" and even "Jumbo" eggs in the store are tiny compared to my hens. Friends/family give us Jumbo egg cartons and our eggs are usually so big that I can't even get the lids closed... Yeah, Ouch.

Same! I can't even close the lid, not even a little. Even what I think are small eggs don't fit

 

[Possum-Pie]

Almost all of our girls lay in the afternoon, usually after lunch. I used to have thin shell problems but changing food and giving oyster shells in a dish for grazing when needed stopped that. I've gotten to the point that I can almost always tell who laid what by color, size, shape, and speckles on the eggs. One hen always has speckles, one is an EE so blue eggs, one lays small eggs that are pale, and one lays huge eggs. The darkness of the tan color on the shells also seems to stay constant within each individual hen. I suspect I have 3 that are not laying at all, I've been trying to catch them in the act so I can be sure that at least sometimes they lay an egg. 6 hens, averaging 3 eggs/day. One SLW is small and has feathers missing, was picked on at her other home I suspect. I doubt that she is laying but I love an underdog so I'll keep her anyway. I suspect that one large Bard Rock isn't laying and I'm going to do the vaseline and food-coloring trick to prove or disprove my theory. If she isn't laying she will go to market. She is a bully anyway and I don't like her personality.

 

[kismit]

i haven't timed it but i know one of my hens takes a good half hour before committing to where she's gonna lay. and then rearranges all of the existing eggs. sometimes she'll scratch the coating on them in the process. she's a black copper dominant and definitely is the noisiest layer i have because she's gotta narrate the wholllllllllle thing lol my sapphire? she's in she's out and if i didn't catch her in the act i'd never know she was ever In the nestbox.

i'd maybe offer some calcium rich extras like parsley, dandelion, ect in addition to free choice oyster shell to help with shell strength to avoid cracking.