Hen acting funny? Egg stuck?

[mommaEchols]

Hoping for some help, I am a worried momma "hen".. my sweet girl is a 20ish week old Sex link, she has been sitting in her nesting box literally all day.. she came out once, this evening when I opened the gate to let them free range a bit, but came back to the coop after about 15-20 minutes, and right back in the nest box she goes. This is not normal for her, she has never before even got in there. I am only worried because she has never laid an egg before, has been in the box for basicaly 14-15 hours? I am nervous for her, hoping that there is not something really wrong with her? Is this normal? Could the egg be stuck at all? Sorry, this is my first flock and I am a nervous parent.

 

[bochelle6563]

The first egg time could take a while. She might be feeling the need but doesn't quite know what the feeling is. I would pay more attention to if she is not eating or starting to look lethargic. If she starts looking like she is having trouble (breathing hard, etc) you can soak her in warm water for about 10 minutes and and then put her in a quiet area until she dries. This helps my little bantam leghorn when she can't lay.

 

[mommaEchols]

So finally, she went out of her coop tonight, in the yard and laid an egg. It seemed to have a sac on it? It was soft shelled, she reached around, chewed the sac off and the egg dropped to the ground. It was a soft egg, she ate it asap. Is this normal? If not what should I do?

 

[bochelle6563]

The first egg can be soft, but you want to be very watchful about her eating the eggs. You need to try and get the egg before she develops a habit of eating them. Most people don't keep hens who eat their eggs. But let's hope she had a time of confusion and won't do it again. Once she starts to eat eggs it is very hard to break her of the habit. Next time she lays and you are around immediately take the egg. Also if you can gather the other eggs in the nest box once or twice a day. I put a golf ball in the nest box to entice them to lay where I want them to lay and if they peck at it it won't crack.