HELLP CHICKEN STOP LAYING EGG PROBLEM

[I love chickens0U0]

Ya ???

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Ya ???

Only a broody hen will sit on her eggs.

 

[I love chickens0U0]

Ohh so she's not broody?and too there no problem with not laying these days?

 

[Emily_loveschickens]

Ohh so she's not broody?and too there no problem with not laying these days?

I wouldn't be to worried, but the experts will chime in and let you know.

 

[I love chickens0U0]

Soo no problem?

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Sounds like we've got a mystery on our hands!
Cue the Scooby Doo gang~

Here's my questions.

How many chickens do you have?

How old are they?

do you collect your eggs every day?

is it possible you missed a couple days of egg collecting?

A young hen (also called a pullet) goes through a lot of hormonal changes when she begins to lay eggs. My pullet, nutmeg, laid her first four eggs in three days. She laid two the first day, then one the next, then one the next, then she didn't lay for three days and after that she laid about six eggs a week.

As a side note. I notice you mentioned she will not incubate her eggs. I want to clear something up, your hen will not incubate her eggs unless she becomes broody. Broodiness is something that happens in some hens but not all of them. A new egg layer that's only laid a half dozen or so will probably not try to hatch. She's still a teenager in chicken eggs. She's not ready to be a mom yet, so don't be worried. She sounds like a normal healthy hen that is just beginning to lay.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

Sounds like we've got a mystery on our hands!
Cue the Scooby Doo gang~

Here's my questions.

How many chickens do you have?

How old are they?

do you collect your eggs every day?

is it possible you missed a couple days of egg collecting?

A young hen (also called a pullet) goes through a lot of hormonal changes when she begins to lay eggs. My pullet, nutmeg, laid her first four eggs in three days. She laid two the first day, then one the next, then one the next, then she didn't lay for three days and after that she laid about six eggs a week.

As a side note. I notice you mentioned she will not incubate her eggs. I want to clear something up, your hen will not incubate her eggs unless she becomes broody. Broodiness is something that happens in some hens but not all of them. A new egg layer that's only laid a half dozen or so will probably not try to hatch. She's still a teenager in chicken eggs. She's not ready to be a mom yet, so don't be worried. She sounds like a normal healthy hen that is just beginning to lay.

I mean, she's still a teenager in chicken years.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So you found four eggs in a pullet's nest the first time you found eggs in there. What did those eggs look like? Were they all about the same size and color? Were the shells equally thick and hard? Did they all have yolks?

It is possible for a hen to lay multiple eggs in one day. If a hen releases two yolks at the same time you often get a double yolked egg. If they are released at different times they each form their own egg. Occasionally people get eggs with three or more yolks but those are really rare. It is possible but really unusual for a hen to release enough yolks spread out enough to get three or four eggs in a day. Pullets just starting to lay often have glitches in their first few eggs so if something like this is going to happen there is a good chance it would be a pullet just starting. If something like that happens, even with just two, the hen usually makes a limited amount of shell material so only one egg has a decent shell. The other eggs are usually soft shelled or no shell.

So what did those eggs look like? Give us a clue to work with. A photo of the eggs would be fabulous.

I can think of some scenarios that are much more likely to be what really happened.

1. Do you have more than one pullet starting to lay?

2. Are you sure you just didn't see those other eggs until she laid her fourth egg?

3. Does someone like to play practical jokes? That has happened on this forum before and can explain some of the miracles like this that people report.

I consider any one of these much more likely than a pullet laying four eggs in one day, especially four well-formed eggs.

It is not unusual for a hen to skip a day pr two laying once they start. Nothing at all strange about that.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

If you want, you could write her name on a calendar every day that you get an egg from her. Then you can keep track of how she's doing. I don't know what part of the world you're in, but if it is autumn in your part of the world, she may stop laying soon because of the shorter daylight and longer nights.

 

[Mrs. K]

Really, a very good general rule to chicken keeping will keep you from worrying needlessly is:" if they are active, eating, dust bathing and bright eyed, they are fine." Laying is not like a machine, a perfect egg every 23 hours. It is a bodily function and it varies. The amount of light, heat, and any other difference, can swing their laying off a bit.

No need to worry about any of it that I can see.

Mrs K