Broody or Not, that is the question..?

[Taffy57]

Yes I am a little puzzled myself, but I know for certain there were no eggs left in the nest this morning as I watched my son remove them all. Plus we certainly only have 4 hens and 1 rooster, so unless somebody elses hen stopped by and deposited an egg, how on earth did we end up with 5 eggs today..?

I'm wondering if it's at all possible for a hen to be partially egg bound, causing her to miss laying one day, but then having a following egg aid in pushing out the egg from the previous day..? I know this sounds crazy, but there was one hen that missed laying yesterday, although she did go on the nest for a while, plus she wasn't her usual perky self, she seemed a bit lethargic and kept laying on the ground throughout the day.

That is the only explanation I can think of !

Thanks Steve...

 

[rosemarythyme]

I wonder if the occasional layer has a faster than average egg cycle and can spit out eggs sooner than most, as there are other posts on here about chickens laying twice in a day (verified by the keeper watching or the layer having a unique egg color). Unlikely they can successfully continue that for long as it would be pretty taxing on the body.

 

[aart]

I wonder if the occasional layer has a faster than average egg cycle

Speed Shellers!!

 

[InterestingChickens]

I have a hen that is on the top of the pecking order and doing the exact same thing as yours. Intersted to find out how this turns out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Speed Shellers!!

There has to be some explanation for folks posting that they're getting more eggs than number of birds - even if half of them are mistaken, that still means there's some super layers out there... (A problem I don't have, since half my flock barely lays. )

 

[Taffy57]

I have a hen that is on the top of the pecking order and doing the exact same thing as yours. Intersted to find out how this turns out.

Hi,
Well just to keep you up to date, 3 dummy eggs were put in the nest around 16.30 yesterday, when she was still away in the back garden foraging with the rest of the chooks. I should point out that the nest is outside of the coop and consists of an old dog transport cage with a box at one end. When my Son went outside to check if the chooks had gone to bed for the night at around 19.30, she was on the nest covering the dummy eggs, the other 3 hens and rooster were in the coop. This is how it has been for the last week, so we will see tomorrow morning if she goes back to the nest after feeding etc or will she lose interest yet again..?
I'll keep you posted
Cheers Steve

 

[mcdze]

doesnt sound broody to me, sounds more like its kinda using it as a convenient roost lol .. drop and egg while im at it type of behavior .. you cant figure some chickens lol .. but a true broody usually you just literally have to drag them off the nest and theyll jump right back on in a few minutes ... as far as eggs, alot of it is timing, ive seen them 'hold it' before for various reasons lol .. theyll run in and lay one and alittle later or next morning drop another one ...

 

[Taffy57]

I wonder if the occasional layer has a faster than average egg cycle and can spit out eggs sooner than most, as there are other posts on here about chickens laying twice in a day (verified by the keeper watching or the layer having a unique egg color). Unlikely they can successfully continue that for long as it would be pretty taxing on the body.

Hi Rose,
not sure about that. I do know that she went on the nest to lay, but after about a hour she came off the nest without producing an egg.
She was limping slightly, according to my Son, plus she kept laying down around the garden for no apparent reason. When I picked her up to check her over I found her crop was still full of corn from the previous afternoon. I dont know if it is true, but I did read somewhere that too much corn can cause egg binding, I gently massaged her crop for her and by the following morning she was back to her usual perky greedy self. Anyway we will see if we get 5 eggs again tomorrow, if we do then you maybe right,but if not then I'll have to put it down to her being egg bound, unless someone can offer any other explanation..?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hi Rose,
not sure about that. I do know that she went on the nest to lay, but after about a hour she came off the nest without producing an egg.
She was limping slightly, according to my Son, plus she kept laying down around the garden for no apparent reason. When I picked her up to check her over I found her crop was still full of corn from the previous afternoon. I dont know if it is true, but I did read somewhere that too much corn can cause egg binding, I gently massaged her crop for her and by the following morning she was back to her usual perky greedy self. Anyway we will see if we get 5 eggs again tomorrow, if we do then you maybe right,but if not then I'll have to put it down to her being egg bound, unless someone can offer any other explanation..?

Haven't dealt with a egg bound bird myself... you can glove up, oil up a finger and feel for an egg if that's a concern.

If the crop is a concern I'd definitely keep an eye on it and if needed, isolate her without food for a little while so you can ensure it's emptying properly before letting her access feed again.

 

[Taffy57]

Haven't dealt with a egg bound bird myself... you can glove up, oil up a finger and feel for an egg if that's a concern.

If the crop is a concern I'd definitely keep an eye on it and if needed, isolate her without food for a little while so you can ensure it's emptying properly before letting her access feed again.

Yes Rose, she is pooping, the full crop was because she is a greedy bugger when it comes to corn or the leaves of my strawberry plants and my Son had unfortunately let her have a little too much corn !