Egg on ground

[Penelope59]

My newest layer- this was her third egg. She laid her first two eggs in the nesting box- no problems. This morning, for some reason she laid her egg in the run on the ground. Luckily, I found the egg perfectly in tack. Do you think the egg came out before she made it to the nesting box? Is this even a thing? Could someone give me any insights on why this could have happened? Thanks!!

 

[azygous]

Have you ever had the joy of toilet training a toddler? If not, it's similar to nest training a hen. Sometimes the sensation of an egg needing to be laid is ambiguous, and the hen doesn't make it to the nest in time, and it gets deposited wherever. Just as a toddler confused as to the sensations of needing to get to a toilet results in underpants deposits.

Your hen will fine tune her laying in time. Try to be patient. That she knows where the eggs are supposed to go is a major step to be celebrated. The rest will follow.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sometimes pullets have glitches when they first start to lay. That's not just having trouble putting the egg together perfectly so you can get soft-shelled or no-shell eggs, really thick shells, no yolk, double yolked, or strange shapes. It also includes knowing when and where to lay an egg. It's not that unusual to find an egg under the roosts or anywhere in the coop or run. Usually once they figure out where the nest is and start laying in there they go back to the nest but it's possible your pullet just had an oops. I think we are all entitled to an occasional oops, especially when we are just learning how to do something.

I'll ask the obvious question, could you have another pullet just starting?

 

[Penelope59]

Have you ever had the joy of toilet training a toddler? If not, it's similar to nest training a hen. Sometimes the sensation of an egg needing to be laid is ambiguous, and the hen doesn't make it to the nest in time, and it gets deposited wherever. Just as a toddler confused as to the sensations of needing to get to a toilet results in underpants deposits.

Your hen will fine tune her laying in time. Try to be patient. That she knows where the eggs are supposed to go is a major step to be celebrated. The rest will follow.

Yes, I’ve potty trained a toddler, lol....was curious why she laid her first two eggs in the nesting box, but her third was on the ground. I’m sure she’s still learning. Like you said, it was probably an accident or she could have been distracted.