Hens are sitting in the nest for hours before laying

[jcabral]

My flock are all about a year old. RIR, Americanas, and BR. Sometimes they will go into the boxes and lay their egg in ten minutes, but lately it seems that most of them are in there for an hour or more. Today a BR was in the nest for almost 7 hours before she layed. She is not broody, because as soon as she laid she popped right out of the coop and joined the others outside. Could this be something in their diet or is this normal?

 

[sourland]

Not sure where you are located, but maybe it's just too darn cold to lay and hurry outside.

 

[jcabral]

Not sure where you are located, but maybe it's just too darn cold to lay and hurry outside.

Could be, it is very cold (single digits at night lately), just dont know if I should be worried or not.

 

[donrae]

My newer layers often dink around in the nest box. They just like to hang out there sometimes. I never have any problems from it.