- Feb 15, 2012
- 17
- 0
- 22
I added an Olive Egger and a Silver Laced Wyandotte to my flock in early February. At that time they looked pretty close to laying - red combs and wattles and I've been waiting for months now for that to actually happen.
Today all the chickens were out in the yard. They usually hang in twos - the two older and the two younger. The OE looked like she was squatting. I thought, "FINALLY! She's getting ready to lay!" Then she kept squatting and fluffing her wings and next thing I knew an egg popped out! The Wyandotte immediately pecked at it and I shooed her away.
Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a soft egg and the peck just about cracked it fully open. I've been wondering about egg eating for awhile. I was getting 2 a day pretty much every day since about February and the past few weeks it's been more sporadic. Mostly one a day. I've only found one cracked egg in the nest and I thought it was more from fighting (they're still figuring out the pecking order since I moved the younger ones in last month).
So is this just a first egg fluke? I'm surprised she laid it in the yard. They see the other eggs in the nest all the time. Is there other evidence of egg eating that I need to look for? Is the nest usually a mess when it happens or do they tend to clean up after themselves?
Here's the egg she laid.
and here are the two "newbies."
Today all the chickens were out in the yard. They usually hang in twos - the two older and the two younger. The OE looked like she was squatting. I thought, "FINALLY! She's getting ready to lay!" Then she kept squatting and fluffing her wings and next thing I knew an egg popped out! The Wyandotte immediately pecked at it and I shooed her away.
Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a soft egg and the peck just about cracked it fully open. I've been wondering about egg eating for awhile. I was getting 2 a day pretty much every day since about February and the past few weeks it's been more sporadic. Mostly one a day. I've only found one cracked egg in the nest and I thought it was more from fighting (they're still figuring out the pecking order since I moved the younger ones in last month).
So is this just a first egg fluke? I'm surprised she laid it in the yard. They see the other eggs in the nest all the time. Is there other evidence of egg eating that I need to look for? Is the nest usually a mess when it happens or do they tend to clean up after themselves?
Here's the egg she laid.
and here are the two "newbies."
