Dropping eggs from the roost?

[arion]

Found my first egg in the nest box from one of my four Rhode Island Reds on Friday. Only one of the pullets has totally bright red comb/wattles so I think she did the deed. When I got home from work yesterday I checked the box to see if she would lay another one but didn't find an egg. But then I noticed a broken egg on top of the poop pile under the roost.

Kind of wondering when they first start if sometimes it takes them awhile to associate the feeling they must get in their belly with the deed. Is it possible she was on the roost when the egg just slipped out and she didn't realize it was coming? Kind of bizarre. The nest box is about 5 feet away from the roost so I certainly don't think a bird rolled the egg out of the nest box and then to under the roost just to smash the egg.

They are all paying a lot more attention to the nest box and are being more vocal about things. As a bonus on Friday my cockeral started making his first attempts to crow as well. All the ladies were looking at him as if to say 'did that funny noise come out of you?' Interesting watching them mature for the first time having chickens.

 

[Spartan22]

An egg or two under a roost happens occasionally especially to a young layer since they are still getting use to laying. I still find an occasional egg under a roost every few months from my older hens when they had to lay eggs very early while it’s still dark and didn’t make it to the nest especially if they skipped a day or two.

 

[Chicken Whisperers]

Agreed: it's not that big of a deal. One of my hens started yesterday and today I already found an egg in the furthest corner of the pen!!

 

[arion]

Thanks!

That is what I assumed. I took that first egg and added it to a couple of store bought eggs for an omelet and even with only one free range egg I could tell that the taste was more flavorful than store bought and the yolk was a lot more yellow so looking forward to the ladies doing their job.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

All three of my layers had a few eggs dropped from the roost when they first started laying. Most of them were soft shell. Since they have settled into a routine now, I haven't found anymore. I am assuming I will get more once my last chicken starts laying.

 

[Eggs82]

When mine first started laying I was finding eggs all over the place. I left a few golf balls in the nest box until they got it down.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

One of mine did this this morning. I didnt even think she was ready to lay because her comb is still small and light pink. It was soft shell and she immediately dropped down and ate it. I gave them oyster shell yesterday. I would have done so sooner but tsc was sold out

 

[Eggs82]

I think soft shells are inevitable when they first start laying. Takes a while before there bodies really get it going.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Congratulations on seven years of BYC!

When my Church Birds started laying I could not convince them to lay in the nesting box I provided them, so I gave them a wooden rabbit nesting box. As soon as I put that in there they all wanted to lay in it except for Lupine, my Americana hen. They currently wasn't staying in the Church, because that coop is seasonal, but when they got settled back in the Church she started laying there, too.
When there isn't enough nesting boxes hens will sometimes not lay in the nesting box of another hen or two or even three are already in it. Also were your hens are just starting, they haven't figured out what to do, yet. Freerangers also don't always return to lay.
My bantams never had a nesting box because of their size. Four out of five bantams are now 4 years old, and last year I watched one of them lay an egg while on the perch.

 

[arion]

Question is now am I smarter than my chickens are? We shall see. I let them out in the morning before I go to work and then lock up the coop when they return to roost for the night. Didn't take them too long to get used to the routine and now they are mad as hell at me.

I got one medium egg this past Friday. On Saturday as I indicated I found a shattered egg on the poop pile which I removed because I didn't want them to get used to the taste of raw egg. When I got home yesterday afternoon [Sunday] the birds were out doing their thing and I checked the nest box go see if there was an egg in there....nothing except for the ceramic egg to get them used to the idea. Didn't think too much about it as I know they don't lay every day and especially when they are getting into the routine.

A few minutes later I heard a ruckus in the brush with the birds making a lot of noise. Went to see what they were so excited about and there was a smashed medium egg on the ground with them clustered around it slurping it down with the cockeral getting the lion's share of it. I went to get a shovel because I wanted to remove what was left and bury it. The roo grabbed the half shell that was left and was playing keep away from me.

So I figured that I would fix em good. I figure since they are starting to lay I need to imprint on them to use the nest box to do the deed before I let them out. At least if they are laying in the coop I have an opportunity to get to the egg first before one of the bird brains decides he/she wants to chow down. So I didn't let them out this morning and I can hear them complain all the way inside the house.

I leave for work around 1pm today and I'll keep checking. If there is an egg in the box by the time I leave for work I'll take it and let them out for the rest of the day. If not, I'll leave them in the coop. It took several days for them to have the new coop imprint on them and I figure it might take just as long to figure out that the nest box is the only option to lay and they don't get to go out until the deed is done.

Of course only one girl is laying right now but the other pullets should catch on to the process....I hope. I don't know when she dropped the egg outside but from all that I've read it seems like most hens lay in the morning. Is that everyone else's experience and/or is there a better way to fix this problem that is starting up? I'm just figuring since this is all new for the birds that sooner or later they will figure it out so not too concerned at the moment...but did I say they are mad at me? If looks could kill.........