Eggs while roosting

[Chrissy D]

It’s almost impossible for that to be one bird laying. That sounds like 2 or more are laying. Very good production from grown hens is 6 days on 1 day off. Pullets are usually very spotty the first month or so. Have you actually seen her lay the eggs or could there be more laying?

She is such an over achiever. I have a trail cam in the coop. Lol. So I could see who was laying. It was only her. I have a black star that just started laying yesterday. But green eggs and brown eggs so those are easy to tell. Maybe this is why her little body is now freaking out. Just happy to have all of your input to help me through these things. Thanks Much.

 

[CuriousChicken]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.

The egg laying process is pretty complicated. That's not just putting the egg together correctly but also in knowing when and where to lay. Most pullets seem to get all that right when they first start to lay but some can have issues with any of that. They tend to get all the bugs out of their system fairly quickly, say within a week or two if not sooner, but every now and then you have one that never seems to get it totally right. Either their body isn't quite put together the right way or their instincts are just off. From what you write I think it is highly likely she just needs more time.

The soft or thin shells are most likely that her instincts to eat the oyster shell haven't kicked in, her body isn't processing the calcium she eats properly, or her shell gland isn't working right yet. It's not unusual for a pullet just starting to lay to lay some really weird eggs. Those could be soft-shelled, thin-shelled, really thick shells, double yolked eggs, no yolks (just whites), all yolks and no whites, or some other things that are just weird. Be patient with that.

Some pullets seem to realize that they will soon be laying and look for a good place to lay an egg as much as a week before they start laying. That way they are ready. But some seem to be surprised when an egg pops out, that can happen anywhere, on the roost or walking around the coop or run. Since it is happening at night this is probably not it.

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to go through her internal egg making factory from when the yolk is released until the egg pops out. There are certain triggers that tell a hen or pullet when to release that yolk so it will be laid during daylight hours. Your pullet probably hasn't worked the bugs out of her triggering system so she gets surprised by an egg at night.

When I have an issue with the flock I try to determine if it is a flock-wide problem or an individual chicken problem. That way I don't mess up all the others if they are going great because of one chicken. It sounds like all your others are doing great. I would not change the way I feed them because of this one pullet.

My usual approach to something like this is to be patient. Give her time to work the kinks out of her internal egg making factory. The vast majority of them do. If you are still having issues with her after say two weeks there may be something wrong with her. But if the others are doing great it is not because of anything you are doing and it is not a flock wide problem. You may have a defective pullet.

Maybe you have some pointers for me. My Brabanter hen is a little over 2 years old, she has laid 3 to 4 large good quality eggs a week since she started. She has access to oyster shells, she gets good quality organic feed and she gets a poultry vitamin weekly.

Her rooster passed away a couple of weeks ago, we knew it was coming and had set up to get another boy for her. We were hoping that Chicken-butt would wait until the new rooster came but that didnt happen. So on top of the stress of losing her rooster a new one showed up shortly after. With all that stress I expected an interruption in the egg process. I stepped up her vitamin regiment and made sure the oyster shells were fresh. She stopped laying for a week, okay no problem.

When she started laying again she popped out a huge egg and had a minor prolaps. I cleaned it off put it back and boosted her calcium, I had some reptile calcium that I added to her food. She hasn't prolapsed since, but she has been laying soft and or semi rigid eggs for the last week or so. On top of that she is laying them while roosting. Do you think this is her getting her system back up and running or is it something else?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not the best person to answer this. Maybe @casportpony knows about it or knows someone who is better qualified.

I have not experienced anything quite like that. When mine come back to laying they lay regular eggs and use the nest. Maybe it is stress related and she will soon straighten out. How is she acting? Eating , drinking, and roosting normally or standing around lethargic and maybe fluffed up. How many other chickens do you have? How are they acting? Some diseases might cause something like this but if she is otherwise acting OK that is not as likely.

 

[CuriousChicken]

I'm not the best person to answer this. Maybe @casportpony knows about it or knows someone who is better qualified.

I have not experienced anything quite like that. When mine come back to laying they lay regular eggs and use the nest. Maybe it is stress related and she will soon straighten out. How is she acting? Eating , drinking, and roosting normally or standing around lethargic and maybe fluffed up. How many other chickens do you have? How are they acting? Some diseases might cause something like this but if she is otherwise acting OK that is not as likely.

We just keep one hen and one rooster at anyone time. They are house pets, other than the funky egg laying she is perfectly fine. She runs the house like normal eats, drinks, loves loves and greets me at the door after work. Which is why I'm so baffled. Her behavior is on point, she was really "sad" for a week or two but once she settled the pecking order with the new rooster she pretty much went back to normal.