Another egg post 🤦‍♀️

[Mamatomany123]

I feel like I've been posting a lot asking questions.

So, I have 5 production blues and 2 EEs. All are 19 weeks. 1 EE is laying. This morning I let them all out to free range and saw my EE run into the coop so I figured she would go lay. She had been in there a while so I went to check on her and saw this. One egg was fine but broken (no soft shell). I'm not sure if it was laid from the roost. The other looked like a possible soft shell but when I touch it they were solid, like they had been sitting a while. The yolk was no longer runny. They were not there last night and we got an egg yesterday. So, I most likley have 2 layers now, yes? And why are they laying on the roost? How can I fix that?

Also, my production blues should lay brown eggs. Did both of my EEs really beat them to the punch? Both eggs were lighter in color. One was green, the other looked white but I shouldnt have any white egg layers. Please excuse the poop. I was about to scoop when I saw these.

 

[ravensnow]

I have an anecdote and a suspicion for you.

Anecdote: When my Orpington started laying, she had a roller coaster of a time. Her first egg was a huge double-yolk one, poor girl. She'd lay an egg off the roost bar sometimes. Some days, she laid two eggs. They were both normal eggs, so we assumed our other Orpington had started laying! There'd be random soft shelled eggs thrown in the mix. From what we were able to tell, she didn't WANT to lay on the roost bar, but it seemed like she had poor control of the process and one sometimes snuck out while she was on the roost bar. Once her systems got entirely online, she never laid on the roost bar again, but always in the nesting boxes. Her sister, who started laying a few weeks later, did not have any of these hiccups.

Suspicion: Blue and green egg layers mix their blue pigment into the shell at an early stage, so both egg shells will be blue on the inside. Brown egg layers (and green) add their brown pigment on the outside as one of the last steps, so their eggs will be white on the inside. Perhaps one of your production birds started to lay, but doesn't have the pigment part of the process down yet.

 

[Mamatomany123]

I have an anecdote and a suspicion for you.

Anecdote: When my Orpington started laying, she had a roller coaster of a time. Her first egg was a huge double-yolk one, poor girl. She'd lay an egg off the roost bar sometimes. Some days, she laid two eggs. They were both normal eggs, so we assumed our other Orpington had started laying! There'd be random soft shelled eggs thrown in the mix. From what we were able to tell, she didn't WANT to lay on the roost bar, but it seemed like she had poor control of the process and one sometimes snuck out while she was on the roost bar. Once her systems got entirely online, she never laid on the roost bar again, but always in the nesting boxes. Her sister, who started laying a few weeks later, did not have any of these hiccups.

Suspicion: Blue and green egg layers mix their blue pigment into the shell at an early stage, so both egg shells will be blue on the inside. Brown egg layers (and green) add their brown pigment on the outside as one of the last steps, so their eggs will be white on the inside. Perhaps one of your production birds started to lay, but doesn't have the pigment part of the process down yet.

I know one egg from from my EE. Super confused with what happened though. She ran into the nesting box to lay but then didnt. Im almost positive the one green egg under the roost was hers but I could pick it up whole so it had to have been sitting a while. She was in the box around 15 minutes by the time i saw them. The other could have possibly been from a production blue. I've been patiently waiting for this girl to lay so I'm guessing possibly hers.

My EE was also just sitting in the nesting box after I scooped up the eggs. She was sitting on the fake egg. Really hoping shes not trying to become broody. We are going to build another nesting box (we just got more babies so want to be prepared). I'm wondering if she is trying to go broody and wouldnt let the other lay in there. Since she was the only layer we havent set up the dividers yet. Those will be going up now also.

 

[ravensnow]

Is that one of your Production Blues? My goodness, she's going to lay any second now! It's technically possible that your EE is going broody, but I honestly think she's just hormonally confused. Maybe she's not good at reading her body signals yet to know when she should nest and when she doesn't need to? I've seen my chickens both pile into one nesting box to lay, even though there's a perfectly good, empty one right next to it. You can certainly put up dividers if your EE is getting aggressive about nesting, but your others may want to follow her lead into one box anyway. Keep fake eggs in all the nesting zones.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Is that one of your Production Blues? My goodness, she's going to lay any second now! It's technically possible that your EE is going broody, but I honestly think she's just hormonally confused. Maybe she's not good at reading her body signals yet to know when she should nest and when she doesn't need to? I've seen my chickens both pile into one nesting box to lay, even though there's a perfectly good, empty one right next to it. You can certainly put up dividers if your EE is getting aggressive about nesting, but your others may want to follow her lead into one box anyway. Keep fake eggs in all the nesting zones.

Yes, shes been like this for a few weeks. They're all getting pretty ready. They're 19 weeks and can lay anywhere from 16-20 weeks. I'll leave it open for now and see what happens tomorrow. I'm considering getting a camera for inside the coop but my husband says that's overboard right now I have the fake eggs in there. Heres the nesting box. We can add dividers if we need to but was going to see what they do with this one.

 

[aart]

One was green, the other looked white but I shouldnt have any white egg layers.

Sometimes new layers don't get the spray booth working right off the bat...thus the white egg.