eggs song - before or after the egg, the first egg?

[heksa]

My kids and hubby just called me that they heard the egg song. It is our first time, so we are very excited!

There is no egg in the nest box though, so is the song supposed to precede the egg or announce that the egg was layed?

It would be our very first egg and our chickens are 16/17 weeks old.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

Quote:
They could just be practicing. My girls will sing it before and after they lay an egg.
Are your girls doing the submissive squatting thing yet? Have you seen them in the nest boxes? Mine did both of those things just before laying their first eggs.

Good luck and have your camera handy!

 

[Wynette]

That's a tad early, but could be. The average age to begin laying is 24 weeks and trust me, you don't want to push them to lay early, because they can have all sorts of laying issues later as a result.

But, as far as the egg song, I think it's different for each one. I had one hen that sang the song from the time she was 8 weeks until she laid at 28 weeks. I also have roosters that sing the song right along with the hens, and other hens sing it to sort of encourage the one laying. I have some that sing the song for an hour, then go in & lay...and others that go lay and THEN sing the song. The good nes is that it's a good indicator it will happen soon, in most instances!

Have you seen your girl going in & out of the nest boxes? Are their combs bright red? Those are also very good indicators.

 

[heksa]

Thank you for your responses.

Two of my 3 chickens have very red comb and wattles (Dominique and White Rock). Dominique is very tame, so few days ago I checked her pelvis bones and I could fit two fingers in between. She is also squatting/sitting in the grass more often, I noticed. I was even worried about that. I was wondering why she was sitting when two others were scratching around, and thought that she was sick or something, but when I approched she just got up and joined the others.

I have not seen them use the nest boxes. There are two golf balls laying in the for the last few weeks, but I have not noticed any changes in straw arrangement so I assume they do not go there.

We are getting a little impatient, but mostly excited.

 

[phatgirl]

We have 3 hens. They are 22 weeks today. About 11 hours of daylight right now. One has a bigger crown than the others (Mabel). I cleaned the coop and fluffed up hay in nesting boxes and thought it was cute they were going in and were loving the fluffy hay in the nesting area. 15 minutes later Mabel stood on a shelf outside and screamed at me! It startled me and didn't even want to turn my back on her. Her eyes were beady and scary looking whilst yelling at me. Half hour later I go in backyard looking for the girls and checked in the coop. Opened the nesting box and counted three heads and was going to head back in house but Mabel tail feathers kept poking out. I told her move yer butt! I moved her myself and there was her first egg!!!! It was still wet and warm. It's smaller than a usual egg but I could NOT be more excited today.