First egg on its way!!

[Erin80]

My barred rocks are now 20 weeks old, a couple have been doing the egg call for about a week, and they are all squatting if I hold my hand over them. It's been pretty exciting around here.
Today one of them was acting extremely restless, and panting. She kept going in and out of the coop on her own which was odd because normally all five stay together. I figured she was looking for a spot. There is a nesting box in the coop, she was going in and out of it....but has decided on a spot in the back of the coop, under the roosts...she has been there for about 30 min now, pulling nesting material (hay and woodchips) all around her. Is it normal for chickens to decide to lay on the ground? Should I move the nesting box to under the roosts after she's done laying for the others?

 

[Poultrybreeder]

You could move the nest box where she is, just be prepared to have to clean the poop off of the top once and a while. Sometimes, if I catch my hens laying elsewhere from the nesting box, I move them into the box. Usually I do this when they are trying to actually lay the egg, it doesn't seem to hurt them. Believe me, it feels weird to have a hen pushing to lay her egg while being carried!

 

[Erin80]

Just after I posted this, she came running out of the coop, and here is our first egg!!

 

[RodNTN]

Yay! Congratulations!!

 

[Poultrybreeder]

Cool!