I've been reading through the egg bound threads, haven't ran into a situation like mine. My chickens are 4 months old, haven't laid eggs yet. My BO looks the most ready as her comb is very red and larger - compared to the others.
I was mowing the lawn about 5:30pm and decided that I could put the some of the grass clippings in the run because they love scratching through it and crickets like to hide in them. Well I was probably making a 3rd trip to the run to empty the bag and my chickens are very shy, they would go to another side of the run when I went to dump the clippings in there. I noticed my BO was wattling away - like a duck. I though I might have caught her while she was trying to lay and scared her off.
I grabbed her and put her in the nesting box, and waited but she just paced back and forth in the coop wanting to be with her sisters. So I let her back out and she has been walking around normally. I think it might have been a missed opportunity for her to lay an egg, I might have scared her out of it? But it seems to me that she prefers to lay in the grass clippings as this morning she was standing in a nest that she made just this morning.
She doesn't seem swollen or going bald on the back end, her apetite is good, poop is good, she is a little heavier than the others. A few of them make that laying song in the morning (bawk bawk bawkaah) I definitely know it's her and the RIR that do it, not sure who the other is. I put some white ping pong balls in the nesting boxes.
They are fed Nutrena Chick Starter with crushed oyster shells mixed in and every 2-3 days I give them scratch grains with oyster shell mix in. They also get tomatoes from my garden, and whatever vegetable or fruit peels and scraps from the kitchen.
What am I doing wrong? When should I start to worry? (Well I'm already worried)
I know what to do in case she's egg bound, but is this the first sign?
I was mowing the lawn about 5:30pm and decided that I could put the some of the grass clippings in the run because they love scratching through it and crickets like to hide in them. Well I was probably making a 3rd trip to the run to empty the bag and my chickens are very shy, they would go to another side of the run when I went to dump the clippings in there. I noticed my BO was wattling away - like a duck. I though I might have caught her while she was trying to lay and scared her off.
I grabbed her and put her in the nesting box, and waited but she just paced back and forth in the coop wanting to be with her sisters. So I let her back out and she has been walking around normally. I think it might have been a missed opportunity for her to lay an egg, I might have scared her out of it? But it seems to me that she prefers to lay in the grass clippings as this morning she was standing in a nest that she made just this morning.
She doesn't seem swollen or going bald on the back end, her apetite is good, poop is good, she is a little heavier than the others. A few of them make that laying song in the morning (bawk bawk bawkaah) I definitely know it's her and the RIR that do it, not sure who the other is. I put some white ping pong balls in the nesting boxes.
They are fed Nutrena Chick Starter with crushed oyster shells mixed in and every 2-3 days I give them scratch grains with oyster shell mix in. They also get tomatoes from my garden, and whatever vegetable or fruit peels and scraps from the kitchen.
What am I doing wrong? When should I start to worry? (Well I'm already worried)
I know what to do in case she's egg bound, but is this the first sign?
