Does the, "I made an egg!" crow start first? *Update:First egg pics*

[WalkingOnSunshine]

We have 28 hens, all of which are laying right now. We hear that call LOUDLY all the time. I've rushed into the hen house to catch one of them laying since we really don't know who's laying which egg, and often it will be a big stinker hen standing on a perch yelling her head off. I've yet to find a correlation between the Bawk bawk bawk and laying an actual egg. Mine seem to yell their heads off before they lay, and then stay quiet after that.

Also, if your nest boxes are nice and quiet, I don't think you need to worry about finding eggs all over the property. We get an egg under the hen house every once in a great while, and one or so a week on the floor near the nest boxes, but almost every egg is laid in the nest boxes and we have over 8 acres for them to roam around (of course, they really just want to poop on my back porch, little beasties).

Erika

 

[rufus]

Chickens love to hide their eggs. The good news is that they like to lay where the other hens do. So if you find one nest, you will find the eggs for three or four hens.

The best way to do this is remember what time of day you hear then announcing the egg. Then put little kids to watch to see where the chickens are coming from. That is the nest area. Offer the kids a dollar if they find the nest. This keeps the kids busy and they love it.

Good Luck,

Rufus

 

[ChooksChick]

It's been happening at mid-afternoon, when we can't be home- not even this weekend, b/c my sis is getting married (really just a ceremony for the rest of us b/c she eloped)- and as much as I'd rather sit and watch chickens all afternoon...family might not like that. Sadly this means either I lock them up to see for certain, or I wait until next weekend...and I'm impatient, darnit!!

I wanna see an egg! I've been so patient since we got them June 4th...and I'm being really immature right this second, so I'll put myself in time out.


*sigh* I shall just see what I find when I get home and leave the poor things alone a bit longer.

 

[ChooksChick]

I got eggs, three in total now.

I'm a tickled mommy!!

Yay!!

 

[SussexInSeattle]

Well? Where ever did you FIND them??? Inquiring thread followers need to know!

 

[dancingbear]

My hens all sing the "egg song", I wouldn't call it a crow, (I just laid an EGG!!! I just laid an EGG!!) and the roos often take up the chorus as well. When one hen starts to sing, several others usually join in. I've wondered if this is instinctual behavior meant to confuse predators about the actual location of the eggs. Then my guineas start yelling as well, it gets very noisy around here.

They have several distinct vocalizations that have different meanings. They even have different sounds for warning of different kinds of predators. An airborne predator gets a different alert from a ground predator. You can learn several parts of "chicken language" by careful observation.

"Look girls, here's a yummy treat!"
"I found a big bug and you can't have it!"
"Hawk! RUN!!!"
"Get off my perch, that's my spot!"
"Hey kids, mommy's got food!"
"Help! Help! I'm being MURDERED!!!! oh never mind, I'm ok, now." (heard whenever I have to move one for some reason, like out of a nestbox at night, to a roost)

And I few I'm certain are chicken versions of various swear words, but I won't say here, this being a family site.
They are fascinating creatures.

 

[ChooksChick]

Ok, I can elaborate now:

The day I originally posted, I had left them locked in the coop- an 8x8' garden shed with a light and quite cushy- and it's just 5 BR, so I thought it couldn't really hurt.

I came home to find that indeed, there was a shiny new egg under the roost, which sits a foot atop a 24" workbench-turned-poop-board, under which the side drawers have been turned into lovely nest-boxes. I had covered the board with hay b/c it makes it easier to rake the mess into the wagon headed for the composter. Apparently this seemed like a good spot for making a nest?

We took the egg and got rid of the majority of the hay and then put the pullet responsible in the nest boxes again...and again...and again. She was not interested.

So, the next morning we decided to let them out as usual. Came home: no egg. The next morning, however, there was one in one of the nest boxes! She chose the one without the golf ball.

Next day, no egg. This morning, egg! Different nest, kicked out the golf ball.

So...what we've noticed is that we're finding them early when we let them out to free range, so they are being laid while locked up. It's still possible that they are hiding eggs, but I'm not sure if BR lay every other day to start with. We'll have to keep an eye on them when we're home!

I'll post when there's more- but I have to say, there's been not a peep since we heard the noise to start this thread. Once we got eggs, all's quiet.

 

[ChooksChick]

Here are some shots:

In my daughter's paint-covered hands

In a basket with the other two

We're going to blow out the eggs, and put the name of each girl on her first egg- Christmas ornaments!!