Hen "crying" while laying egg

[Bawkbok]

Thank you! My hubby said, now maybe Goldie will start laying too. I told him not to get his hopes up since she's almost a year old and as a RSL should have been laying at least 6 months ago. Not to mention the bout of sickness she recently had to the brink of death. I'm a realist but who knows, I might be surprised some day. I'm just tickled pink about the whole thing.

 

[FrostRanger]

Thank you! My hubby said, now maybe Goldie will start laying too. I told him not to get his hopes up since she's almost a year old and as a RSL should have been laying at least 6 months ago. Not to mention the bout of sickness she recently had to the brink of death. I'm a realist but who knows, I might be surprised some day. I'm just tickled pink about the whole thing.

She might surprise you in spring, we shall see

 

[Just2chickens]

I searched for this, my hen ( greenegger) Lisa is doing this crying too, she's about 20 months old and laying about 11 months... But her eggs are fine, she lays almost every day and after she lays her eggs she does seem totally fine... Does put my mind to rest that she's probably just a very vocal chicken..

 

[Bawkbok]

Our Buff Orpington just started laying 3 days ago also. She was first. We now have 3 eggs in our cache!!! YES!!!
A new behavior I've noticed is now that they are both laying, they have generally become very chatty and vocal, like all the time, sometimes super loud. Is this a hormonal thing? Normal behavior? This is the first experience we've had with chickens that have made it to this age (9 and 11 months).

 

[WingItRanch]

Our Buff Orpington just started laying 3 days ago also. She was first. We now have 3 eggs in our cache!!! YES!!!
A new behavior I've noticed is now that they are both laying, they have generally become very chatty and vocal, like all the time, sometimes super loud. Is this a hormonal thing? Normal behavior? This is the first experience we've had with chickens that have made it to this age (9 and 11 months).

Yes! Totally normal. In fact, that has been my only guaranteed sign that a pullet is about to lay her first egg. The noise!

People say to watch for them messing around in the nest, or squatting, or combs getting redder and bigger, but the #1 way I knew it was coming was they get very loud. Quite the racket. Then the egg appears within a couple days.

 

[coach723]

This is commonly called the "egg song" , very common and very normal behavior, though "song" is subjective . Some of them are quieter, some are very loud, sometimes more of the flock joins in, even roo's, it can sometimes turn into a big noisy party. They may start well before the egg comes, or some may only do it after they lay, it varies a lot. It can be soft clucking, screeching, loud carrying on, etc. and most of them will do some form of it every time they lay. New layers may 'practice' for a bit before an egg actually arrives, they are still figuring things out. In general, I consider it to be a good sound. A bird that is really struggling, or is ill, is generally very quiet. Sometimes you can ID a particular bird by their distinctive song. It's a celebration of sorts, "look what I did!".

 

[Just2chickens]

Yeah I love the eggsong too, but this crying sounds more like the sound she makes when she's annoyed, like oeoeoeoe-ga-ga-ga-ga... And its right before she lays her egg, afterwards she does the whole straws-on-her-back-routine, sometimes does the eggsong and eats half her weight in chickenfood.

 

[WingItRanch]

Yeah I love the eggsong too, but this crying sounds more like the sound she makes when she's annoyed, like oeoeoeoe-ga-ga-ga-ga... And its right before she lays her egg, afterwards she does the whole straws-on-her-back-routine, sometimes does the eggsong and eats have her weight in chickenfood.

Yes, mine whine and holler before and during laying an egg and then sometimes the egg song after.