Egg Laying and night roosting

[jwankowski]

Greetings Ya'll,
My pullets are 23 weeks old and a few have started to lay eggs but they are small ones. They have laid then on the ground in the run but not yet in the nesting boxes. I noticed they were creating nests in the yard out of pine straw so I put wheat straw in the nesting boxes to get them to lay there instead, My first flock which I got at 17 weeks old, laid regular size eggs from the start. Since I raised my current lock from chicks in the coop, I presume this may be normal behavior. Any comments on why small eggs and using straw in the nesting boxes?

Also, my pullets , raised from chicks in the coop, seem to prefer to roost at nightfall in the run area instead of inside the coop as they did when younger. They might be moving into the coop as night progresses but I don;t know. Thoughts?

 

[fluffycrow]

Small eggs are normal for pullets. Your girls have found better areas to lay in than your neat boxes. Put a bunch of nesting material of your liking in there, put some (fake) eggs, and for extra measure lock them up for longer in the mornings if you mind them laying somewhere else. Photos if the run and coop/roosts would help solve your last issue

 

[aart]

Do you still have the first flock?
How many birds total?

Pics of coop and run, inside and out, would help immensely here.

Oh, and.....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[K0k0shka]

What breeds are the new pullets, and what breeds was your first flock? Are you noticing a size difference in the eggs within the same breed(s), or across different breeds? It could just be breed variation, or it could be the size of the actual pullet at point of lay. If the pullets don't reach POL before the days get really short in the fall, they may wait until after winter is over and the days start growing again, to lay their first egg. By that time the bird itself will be bigger, potentially full grown (depending on breed) and will lay larger eggs. As opposed to pullets who start laying younger, before they are full grown, and will thus lay smaller eggs.

How big is your coop, and how many birds do you have total? A lot of people cram too many chickens in coops that are way too small, but were advertised as being able to pack a lot of chickens - like prefabs that always exaggerate their capacity so they can sell better. Or carpenters who build coops to make money but don't actually know much about chicken needs. So people start out with a tiny coop, and a lot of chicks... At first the chicks are small and space is not an issue... But as they grow, it starts to get tight, and chickens don't like it tight, so by around this time people are noticing their young chickens are starting to roost outside for the night. The minimum recommended coop size is 4 square feet per chicken, which is more than what people might think is necessary. But capacity isn't just about how many you can physically fit in there like sardines... They need to have room to move around, to pass each other without getting into each other's personal space, to maneuver to/from the roosts without conflict. Roosting time is a very conflict-prone time, as the pecking order gets reinforced based on who sleeps where. So if it's too tight for them to figure out sleeping arrangements without talking on top of each other, then they'll just opt to sleep outside where they have more space.