Egg-Laying & Chicken Biting

[tabs_flock]

So this is a 2 parter and they aren't totally related.

On another note, the hens are now 21 weeks old. A couple weeks ago, Zelda and the other sexlink, Link started laying. My Australorp (Daine) has not. Link started laying in the nesting boxes but last week moved to a spot under my rosemary bush. Annoying but eh, whatever. However, as of 3 days ago she's stopped laying entirely. Her behavior hasn't changed, except she's gotten a little more aggressive toward the Australorp. I keep searching the yard for a new nest but haven't found one. She's still eating and drinking; she looks healthy as far as I can tell. The weather overnight has gotten cooler and we did have a fire not far from us last week but not sure why it would affect her now and not when air quality sucked. I've attached a couple pictures of Link in case somebody sees something I don't that I can correct.

The other part is this: Yesterday I had an unfortunate accident with my mandoline slicer so my thumb is currently swaddled in gauze and tape pending a trip to urgent care to see if I need stitches. However! When I went out to put the girls away, my Boss Hen (Zelda) promptly bit my swaddled thumb! She keeps trying to bite it- I'm thinking it's because it doesn't look like my thumb with the bandage on it and she's hoping for food? Has anyone had something similar happen? She's never attempted to bite me before. My wife is pretty sure she thinks it's food.

 

[Katanahamon]

So this is a 2 parter and they aren't totally related.

On another note, the hens are now 21 weeks old. A couple weeks ago, Zelda and the other sexlink, Link started laying. My Australorp (Daine) has not. Link started laying in the nesting boxes but last week moved to a spot under my rosemary bush. Annoying but eh, whatever. However, as of 3 days ago she's stopped laying entirely. Her behavior hasn't changed, except she's gotten a little more aggressive toward the Australorp. I keep searching the yard for a new nest but haven't found one. She's still eating and drinking; she looks healthy as far as I can tell. The weather overnight has gotten cooler and we did have a fire not far from us last week but not sure why it would affect her now and not when air quality sucked. I've attached a couple pictures of Link in case somebody sees something I don't that I can correct.

View attachment 2808462View attachment 2808464

The other part is this: Yesterday I had an unfortunate accident with my mandoline slicer so my thumb is currently swaddled in gauze and tape pending a trip to urgent care to see if I need stitches. However! When I went out to put the girls away, my Boss Hen (Zelda) promptly bit my swaddled thumb! She keeps trying to bite it- I'm thinking it's because it doesn't look like my thumb with the bandage on it and she's hoping for food? Has anyone had something similar happen? She's never attempted to bite me before. My wife is pretty sure she thinks it's food.

My girls absolutely freaked out when I wore plaid night pants and camo sloggers into the run instead of black tennies and jeans..

 

[rosemarythyme]

we did have a fire not far from us last week but not sure why it would affect her now and not when air quality sucked.

Could be a delayed stress reaction to the wildfire smoke, perhaps?

She keeps trying to bite it- I'm thinking it's because it doesn't look like my thumb with the bandage on it and she's hoping for food? Has anyone had something similar happen? She's never attempted to bite me before. My wife is pretty sure she thinks it's food.

Probably. If I show my hens a new manicure several of them peck at my nails.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

As to the laying: what are you feeding, including treats? Is there a constant supply of oyster shell available? Do you have golf balls or fake eggs in the nests? Do the chickens free-range during the day?

 

[CalBickieMomma]

In response to the laying: it seems a little too soon, but could she possibly be getting ready to molt? She should just be getting in all her adult feathers at her age, and shouldn’t need to molt yet, but my girls stop laying when they molt and my Polish, Sylvia, gets suuuuper cranky and wants to fight my other chickens in adjoining pens (and doesn‘t want me to hold her or sit in my lap).
As for the bandage pecking: Yeah, pretty normal behavior. She might think you have snacks hidden in there …

 

[rosemarythyme]

In response to the laying: it seems a little too soon, but could she possibly be getting ready to molt? She should just be getting in all her adult feathers at her age, and shouldn’t need to molt yet

At 21 weeks she wouldn't be molting for fall. Broodiness or a post broody molt would stop laying... actually wonder if she could possibly be thinking of going broody, though sexlinks aren't known for broodiness.

 

[CalBickieMomma]

At 21 weeks she wouldn't be molting for fall. Broodiness or a post broody molt would stop laying... actually wonder if she could possibly be thinking of going broody, though sexlinks aren't known for broodiness.

Oh, going broody might be it …

 

[tabs_flock]

UPDATE: I found the new nest! Does broodyness explain why she's using my box of gardening gloves instead of something perfectly reasonable like the coop? But she did lay yesterday and today. So she might be back to normal?

As a side note: they get layer feed and mealworms daily. They free range all day from 7a - 7p, and I put down scratch every couple of days. If I have kitchen scraps (tomato, zucchini, cucumbers mostly), I will put them down for the girls. I have not given them oyster shell- should I?

 

[tabs_flock]

As to the laying: what are you feeding, including treats? Is there a constant supply of oyster shell available? Do you have golf balls or fake eggs in the nests? Do the chickens free-range during the day?

They get layer feed and mealworms daily. Scratch every couple of days. And if I have kitchen scraps (usually tomato, zucchini, cucumbers) I'll put those out. They free range daily 7a - 7p.

 

[tabs_flock]

Oh, going broody might be it …

I don't think they're molting, there aren't enough feathers outside to account for that. It may be broodyness? She was hiding her eggs in my rosemary bush until one of the hens "discovered" the spot and now she's apparently moved to my box o' gardening gloves. And she has a little patch of white fluff sticking out on her chest, but I didn't think anything of it.

Interestingly, the first few times Link laid, she did it in the nesting box, however she moved out after like 3 days and has me playing egg-hunt in the yard now.