First egg then nothing -- What's going on?

[cvgrace]

Greetings all,
I'm relatively new to chicken raising and BYC. We got our first four chicks as day-old hatchlings on St. Patrick's Day, so they are now almost 20 weeks old. We have two buff Orphington's, a golden sex link, and what I've been told is a New Hampshire Red. Three of the pullets have appeared ready to lay for a couple weeks (red faces, more submissive, etc.), but one of the BO's is still pretty pink in the face with a smaller comb than the rest. Our girls generally free range from about 730 in the morning until we lock them back in their run around sundown, which is about 9 PM here on the west coast of the US. We don't lock the coop at night because the entrance is completely inside the run, which is surrounded on all sides by 1/4 inch hardware cloth.

In addition to whatever they eat while ranging in our very large back yard, we have been feeding them starter pellets and have been offering oyster shells for the past three weeks or so. We also occasionally give them table scraps and a handful or so of treats to get them into the run as needed.

We got our first egg last Friday. Not sure who laid it, but she laid it in the middle of our garden, nowhere near the nesting boxes in our coop. Since we have been entertaining a lot since then (and don't have time to powerwash our lawn furniture daily) and since we wanted to encourage whoever had started laying to lay in the nest boxes, we have been mostly keeping them inside they run/coop since then. While I've seen the girls show some interest in the nest boxes, and have heard what sounds like egg songs, I've yet to see another egg. All the girls seem happy and healthy, if a little bit miffed about not being let out like normal. I've checked their vents, and all seems well. I've hard people here mention feeling for eggs or lumps in the abdomen, but nothing feels different to me. I don't think my girls or a predator could be eating the eggs, because I've been checking so regularly. I'm not concerned about my three chicks who haven't begun laying, but am a little perplexed about the pullet who laid once and then hadn't laid again in almost a week.

 

[rjohns39]

You're probably about four weeks early... When they start to lay, they often will drop one, go several days without laying then another, etc. Eventually it will be about daily depending on the breed. Until they start laying regularly, it will be hard to get them interested in the nest box. Some use golf ball or fake eggs to send the message, but young pullets tend to ignore the message. Also you don't need to keep them locked up all day. Pick a time in the morning to be their release time. if all goes well and they get used to that routine, they'll lay in the morning before then for the most part. You'll always have some late bloomers--but once used to the box they'll return to it when its their time. I close my nest boxes in the evening to prevent them from sleeping in them. Make sure they have lots of oyster shell free choice, and once they start laying, move them to a layer feed. Since you're feeding pellets now, you'll likely want to stick with them when you switch to layer. Other than those couple of suggestions, sounds like you're doing everything right so just keep it up.

 

[cvgrace]

Thanks for the reassurance!

 

[cvgrace]

So, I was clearly worried about nothing. I heard a ruckus earlier this afternoon, and look what I found:

I still don't know for sure who laid it, but I currently suspect Ang, my New Hampshire Red as she's been the most interested in the best box.

Thanks again for the reassurance, @rjohns39 !