Is laying an egg supposed to look so darn....uncomfortable? My chickens are scratching in the nest boxes and they spin in circles, throwing chips and straw over their shoulders, doing what I'm assuming is the egg song, but kind of like a low ticking/cluck, but not really a cluck. I've caught two of them doing this, for a good 30-45 minutes, and they really seemed to be pushing. One did this yesterday morning, and there was an egg later, and another did this last night while I was doing work outside the coop (we have windows, so i could see her on the floor) but when I went in when she decided to get up, no egg. They are young, my 7 range in age from 20 weeks to maybe 27 weeks, and I'm getting 2-3 eggs a day, so is it just the first eggs are rough on the system? I know, what a dumb question!
How would you feel if you had to give birth once a day? I always feel sorry for them when I see the size of some of the double yokers we get!
yup...takes the new ones a while to get the hang of it...sometimes you get a hen that thinks it is the coolest thing and must announce to everyone what it is that they have done!
One of my RIRs always sits for at least an hour when laying. I am hoping she is not one to have the prolapse problem at some point.
I think it's cute when a hen re-arranges the straw in her nest. It's her nesting instinct. The nest has to be just so, every straw in place, before she lets loose with her egg. I have had an old hen do this.
