Egg Mystery

[Cinderblock]

I have 4 broody banties sitting on a few eggs which are hatching in a day or two. I also have 17 pullets That are either 18 or 16 weeks. I had noticed my rainbow Dixie seemed to showing signs of getting ready to lay soon, so we built nest boxes last week in their coop which is an 8 by 10 and separate from the small coop the broody hens are in. This chicken has been checking out their brooder/coop a lot lately and today I found a new egg in there. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in there yesterday and the broody hens were sitting on it. Well, the young pullet seems determined to get in there with them and set with them. Is she really going broody after her first egg? I also found a broken soft shelled egg under their roost this morning. Not sure if this is from the same chicken or not, but she definitely laid it while roosting. I wasn’t expecting these pullets to start laying yet. How can I get them to use their egg box in their own coop? Why is my young hen so obsessed with her first egg? I moved her first egg into the new nesting boxes and showed it to her. She pecked at it and scratched around it for awhile and then left to get back to the brooder with the other hens. I now have it blocked off so she can’t get in there, but I just find her behavior odd.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Put golf balls or fake eggs in the nest boxes.

 

[Justso]

I don't find this odd at all. It's universal, they all want to use the best nesting box and that's the one that everyone else is using.
If you have a broody hen that is sitting on eggs, you need to give her her own protected area. I have a broody house that I put them in to keep them separated and protected. You can try using ceramic eggs in another box, that might draw your girls to lay there.
As far as the shell-less egg goes, you can get all kinds of wonky eggs from some early layers. They're body's still working on getting the system straight.

 

[Yep I Talk To Chickens]

Yes put false eggs in the nesting box the soft shell was because she was a new layer but if she doesn't start laying harder shells give her oyster shells from your local feed store

 

[Cinderblock]

I was waiting to enclose the brooder until their eggs were closer to hatching, so I guess I will close the communal run tomorrow so that no other hens/pullets will get in the brooder/coop anymore. I guess I just find it strange that my new layer was trying so hard to get into the nesting box after she laid her egg already and was trying to edge out the other hens. They are so funny. We really haven’t had much experience with hens laying because our older hens are only a year old and they are silkies and constantly broody and rarely lay. They are also in the bad habit of sleeping in their nesting boxes.

I don't find this odd at all. It's universal, they all want to use the best nesting box and that's the one that everyone else is using.
If you have a broody hen that is sitting on eggs, you need to give her her own protected area. I have a broody house that I put them in to keep them separated and protected. You can try using ceramic eggs in another box, that might draw your girls to lay there.
As far as the shell-less egg goes, you can get all kinds of wonky eggs from some early layers. They're body's still working on getting the system straight.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I wish my silkies had gone broody. They didn't seem to ever realize what an egg was