Confused, egg laid from roost

[sawilliams]

Please note I'm not new to chickens I do understand what would cuase a normal chicken to lay (drop) an egg from the roost.

Here's my deal all my girls except the chicks are over a year, through thier first half through thier first winter (first molt will be this year) half will start thier second molt this winter. The chicks are about 3 weeks old and except mama who hatched them all have been laying normally in the nest with no issue. The only thing i can pen down was someone got unhappy about not getting the preferred space and waited on the roost to long, there was egg everywhere.

So here is where I'm confussed though, excluding the possibility of mama coming back to laying early and someone upset about the boxes my only other option is a heritage breed lavender orpington cockerel. Well he's suppose to be a cockerel, but i had posted pics about 2-3 weeks ago and most agreed he is a pullet. The original owner has been by to see him and still stands firm that he is infact male, and they are late bloomers, I do have 1 chick of the same breed and flock that would prove to this as feathering is far behind the feed store chicks of the same age.

So at 14 weeks I'm thinking for a heritage breed though not impossible would probably be unlikely that even if it where female and not male that it would be starting to lay right? Becuase oddly enough the egg drop was infact from his spot on the roost, though he hasn't fully intergated with the flock like my past pullets have when coming of age...

I just wan't to believe that it wasn't him (or her if that's what he is) but at the same time I'm not fully believing any of my other hens would randomly do this.

Do you think it's more likely just a hen upset about the boxes? Or could my 14 week old cockerel really be a hen starting to lay?

Here is a pic from 2 days ago of my boy

 

[barred2rock]

14 weeks is very early for any chicken to lay.

 

[Anansi]

I actually age with others that he may be a she. Have you gotten past the point of chick noises, and have you heard him crowing or seen him acting like a cockrel/rooster? I also agree that 14 weeks is early, from everything I've read, for a chicken to start laying. The size of the egg, and color, should help you figure out who it was. For him, the egg would be noticeably smaller than what you are used to getting from your laying hens. It is possible that one of the othet pullets has started laying and hasn't figured out the nest boxes. I'm sure the mystery of the egg will be solved soon, as will the gender of your gorgeous questionable cockrel.

 

[chicksonline]

Does your lavender Orpington have spurs on his/her legs? If yes most likely a male although I do have my dominant female with them but I'd keep an eye on how they lay get used to the colours/ shapes of which chicken lays what - make sure they don't eat the egg that has been dropped it could cause them to crack into more!

 

[sawilliams]

There was no shell left, all that was there was remnants of the splat the egg took. The cockerel is the only new one that would possibly be close to laying age that isn't already. 7 chicks are 3 weeks old, mama is still brooding the chicks and 9 hens that have been laying normally for 1-2 years.

As for the cockerel he isn't showing yet either way. He does have spur buttons, but i have females with spur buttons. I'm not sure if its normal in his line for females too have spur bottons, but I did get the feeling from the breeder that its not. He isn't showing any signs of hackel, saddle or tail feathers yet but again she still insists he is deffinatly a he. I haven't seen any signs personality wise that tell me if he is male or female but he is my first male. He sits on the roosts with the others but on the lower bar away from them and forges the yard in the far side away from the hens similarly to what all my hens had done before coming of age in the past, but I attribute that to an age thing where they are permitted to share the same space but not part of the grown up club yet.
He still has like a mature chick chirp, no cluck or crow that i have heard yet.

Im hoping its just a one time fluck that one of the hens did this, because he is a very loving cockerel and I do believe it's still to early for him either way. But it does make me nervous becuse last time I had an egg dripped from the roostv was when my pullets last year where starting to lay.

 

[WVduckchick]

That lavender orpington is definitely a pullet. Looks a bit older than 14 weeks. Are you positive on the age?

If you notice, hens don't always lay at the same exact time every day. I would suspect the one "dropped" was just an early morning oops.

 

[sawilliams]

Regardless of the lavenders age I just have to wait that out.

As for the egg drop it wasn't early morning, I have to physically open the coop each morning and close it each night. I like it better that way becuase then I also check thier feed and water as well as their overall health more often. I feel if it was laid early morning before i let them out i would have seen it. As it is right now my husband hasn't added the sky light i asked for in the coop so it's still rather dim in there and most of the girls are still up on the highest bars when I open the door. They typically come out first thing in the morning and then later make thier way back in to the boxes.

Either way it seems it was just a one time bazare event that hopefully won't happen again (at least not untill the chicks are ready to start)

 

[aart]

I'm not sure if its normal in his line for females too have spur bottons, but I did get the feeling from the breeder that its not.

All chickens have 'spur buttons'...some females will even grow spurs, but most do not.

Either way it seems it was just a one time bazare event

Glitches happen. Could be some of your older birds are slowing down on laying, getting ready to molt....funky eggs can happen then, and when they start back up after the molt.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

In the more than 5 years since we have had chickens, we have had the occasional egg laid from the roost, just a few, but they were normal looking eggs and intact due to soft area under the roost. I wouldn't worry unless it continues on a regular basis.

 

[FrankHomestead]

You said there was no shell left behind, perhaps it was a shell-less egg from one of your hens they weren't expecting and dropped it while roosting.