Eggs are dropping while roosting !!!!!!

[kuntrygirl]

I have 20 - 18 week old pullets that I have switched from starter/grower feed to laying pellets and boy are they laying. Some where laying before Saturday. The only problem is that they are laying before 5am and laying while they are roosting. Before I can get out to let them out of their coop, several of them have already dropped their eggs on the ground from the roost. They have only been on laying pellets since this past Saturday. What is going on? All the eggs are broken from the fall. Do they not know that they have to get off the roost and find the nesting box? I have never seen this happen before. What can I do? Did I switch them too soon? Should I have weaned them slowly? I think that I should have now that I'm thinking about it. Can I pull the laying pellets and start to wean them? I hope that I haven't messed them up too bad. DESPARATELY NEED SOME ADVICE!! HELP !!!!

 

[OKbirdwatcher]

kuntrygirl,

One morning I found two eggs underneath the roost. I believed them to be first eggs from two of our pullets. The eggs had verrry soft shells. One was broken and one was not. (We have chicken wire covering the droppings pit and that made for a more flexible landing I guess.)

It never happened again and all the girls are laying perfectly normal eggs in the nest boxes.

We were feeding them laying crumbles. (And still are.

)

Hope your situation resolves as easily.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Mine did that as brand new layers. Put a thick layer of litter so that eggs won't break. It'll stop in time as the new layers figure out what that "gotta go" feeling means.

 

[countrybum]

Quote:
Is the nesting box inside the coop or outside the coop? The reason I am asking is because you stated they are laying around 5am before you get up to let them out of the coop. They are old enough to lay eggs.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
The eggs had very soft shells like yours.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
Is the nesting box inside the coop or outside the coop? The reason I am asking is because you stated they are laying around 5am before you get up to let them out of the coop. They are old enough to lay eggs.

Oops, yes, the nesting box is outside of the coop. So, I guess I'm not giving them the opportunity to get out of there to lay huh? Your question turned on a light. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Sounds like I need to make a few changes.

 

[MHF]

I have one girl that drops her eggs off the roost. I use deep litter so the eggs have not broken. The other 5 all use the nesting boxes but 3 of them lay in the same box.

 

[countrybum]

That is your problem right there.

You need to put the nesting boxes inside the coop. When they are ready to lay the egg, it is not going to wait for you. Get the boxes inside the coop, then all of your eggs will be in the nest.

Quote:
As you see in the picture, there are 3 in the same box. I guess they want to fight over who gets the babies when they hatch.

 

[australorpchick]

Once in awhile I'll find an egg in an odd place, like right in front of the door to the run. It's like they couldn't hold it and didn't make it to the nest box in time.

 

[gallusdomesticus]

The chicken's ovulation cycle is 25hrs meaning that they will lay one hour later each day for a number of days then skip a day and reset their clock. It could be that they are dropping these eggs early in the evening just after going to roost. Don't worry, they won't continue doing it.

(Be sure you have a fake egg or golf ball in the nest so they know where to lay their egg when the urge hits them.)