Hi all,
I am so excited to join in the egg-waiting game! I have 15 girls (6 different breeds), and they were 18 weeks old yesterday. On Friday night I went out to close up the coop after they had roosted, and I found a smushy egg in the poop box under Dorothy, one of my Dominiques. I was so excited!!
She had been squatting for a couple days and her comb and wattles are quite red, so I knew she would be first. Obviously her timing is a bit off given that she laid at around 10 PM, but hey, it was an egg! I found another egg in the poop box in "her" corner of the roost yesterday morning, so now she's laid two. The second one (pictured) also was broken but the shell seemed a bit harder than the first egg...that first one was more like just a membrane than a shell.
She's mostly ignored the nesting boxes...do you think that she'll start to figure that out in earnest once she develops eggs with a harder shell? A couple of the other girls are squatting so I'm hoping they'll lay soon too, but again, no one is playing in the nesting boxes. I have golf balls in two of them and wooden eggs in the other two. Should I do something else to encourage them to get into the nesting boxes? I am hoping that the "egg in the poop box" is just due to first-timer syndrome and won't become a habit.
I added a pic of the nesting boxes so you can see the set up. I also have to add a shot of Dorothy (Dottie) because I am so proud of her!
I look forward to learning more from those of you who have more experience and to waiting along with the other first-timers!
I am so excited to join in the egg-waiting game! I have 15 girls (6 different breeds), and they were 18 weeks old yesterday. On Friday night I went out to close up the coop after they had roosted, and I found a smushy egg in the poop box under Dorothy, one of my Dominiques. I was so excited!!
She's mostly ignored the nesting boxes...do you think that she'll start to figure that out in earnest once she develops eggs with a harder shell? A couple of the other girls are squatting so I'm hoping they'll lay soon too, but again, no one is playing in the nesting boxes. I have golf balls in two of them and wooden eggs in the other two. Should I do something else to encourage them to get into the nesting boxes? I am hoping that the "egg in the poop box" is just due to first-timer syndrome and won't become a habit.
I added a pic of the nesting boxes so you can see the set up. I also have to add a shot of Dorothy (Dottie) because I am so proud of her!
I look forward to learning more from those of you who have more experience and to waiting along with the other first-timers!
