How Long Can They Hold It?

[ClareScifi]

Is there any danger with a hen holding in her egg too long before laying it? Can it cause problems for her?

My hens were laying in a hard-to-reach place, so I blocked off their access to it.

You would have thought the sky had fallen. They were in a dither the next day and quite upset that their favorite egg-laying spot was no more.

I could see the wheels turning, wondering where they could lay, and no spot seemed to suit them.

It made me very nervous. I tried to encourage them to lay outside in the run, but, oh no, they'd have nothing of that.

I got to wondering how long a hen can hold an egg inside her without laying? If she never finds a suitable spot to lay, will the egg be expelled, anyway, or could she get eggbound with it inside her? I can't find anything about this online. I did some research, but nothing appeared.

 

[lindsay297]

Are they freerange, and do they have nesting boxes. I have found with mine when I block of their favorite spots they move to another nesting box.

 

[ClareScifi]

Yes, my girl who was most distressed at the blocked laying spot used to lay her eggs just fine in the nesting box last summer, along with her sister.

But then she hatched 6 eggs in the nesting box and one of them, a Sebright Bantie, discovered how fun it was to lay under the nesting boxes, and since then, no one has laid in the nesting box since.

Now they all want to jump up to the 4 foot shelf to lay their eggs, and that is too dangerous for my fat girl, coming down.

 

[ambrosia]

Mine have decided to lay elsewhere too... and finding clutches of 20 to 30 eggs is no fun when you have no idea how long they have been there! I started locking my girls up in the morning to try to prevent this, and you're right ~~ they hold it until I let them out!
In an attempt to fix out of the way nesting spots, I have nests everywhere, and they have me figured out...

Let me know when you come up with a solution... paying my son to search the hay shed is proving to be expensive LOL

by the way, I get eggs just like the one from your avatar... is my girl laying her eggs sideways???

 

[ClareScifi]

A Ph.D. just e-mailed me that the egg-holding isn't a big problem. They will eventually lay.

I e-mailed him previously about the weird egg in the avatar, and he said it got stuck-- maybe a freak occurrence, a one-time thing, or maybe a sign of a disease in the hen. She did later day suddenly on a hot summer day. So I suspect she had an illness...

 

[RedDrgn]

Start putting some fake eggs in places where you want them to lay. Chickens love piling their eggs together, even if the eggs are from a bunch of different hens - it's like they operate better with a target.

 

[ClareScifi]

Thanks for the great suggestion, RedDrgn!

 

[ClareScifi]

Ambrosia,

Here is what the Ph.D. wrote about the egg in my Avatar:


Hot weather can definitely play a role. It affects the calcification of the egghell. Keep her shaded as much as possible and provide fresh clean water (and watermelon!).
l

Thank you for your question and pics.

These pictures are of an egg that has abnormally passed through the shell gland where the eggshell is deposited. Ocassionally eggs will remain too long or not long enough and get an abnormally pigmented or chalky shell, such as these pictures show. Hens either coming into production or going out of production are more prone to this, but it can occur any time -- one of those quirks of Mother Nature. . . .

Usually the egg is still good to eat unless the yolk appears discolored or "boiled-like," or the albumen is not normal.
If you continue to get this type of eggshell from the same hen, it is an indication that the oviduct (part of the composite reproductive sytem where eggs are formed) has been damaged by disease or trauma.
​

 

[RedDrgn]

You're welcome! It should help. Our girls laid in their nest boxes (which we keep wooden eggs in 24/7) since day one. Still, three months into regular laying, I once forgot to put the wooden eggs back after cleaning the coop/boxes and didn't realize it until the following morning. They laid EVERYWHERE. All over the coop floor and out in the run....none in the nest boxes even though they had never laid anywhere else before. I put the wooden eggs back and haven't had a problem since.

Neurotic chickens.

 

[ClareScifi]

Oh, how funny! That is a great story, RedDrgn!!!

Do you think real eggs would work, too? I have only 1 wooden egg and several plastic Easter eggs. I've tried golf balls, and they aren't impressed with them. But I'm thinking I could put real eggs in there?