My hens are both going on 8 months old and haven't laid a thing except poops the size of my palm!
They are on the good feed, cracked corn and oyster shell...
I read on another post here that the eggs are kind of slimy when they are first laid, and a little lightbulb went off in my brain. One of my girls, recently, has started having some matting around her vent...it's not bad, just a few little fluff feathers here and there, stuck together with what looks like white glue [I could tell you what I really think it looks like, but that would be inappropriate to share on a public forum...ha ha ha]
So I grabbed my flashlight and decided to go wander the yard and see if they've been laying somewhere other than their coops...
I didn't find any eggs, but I also couldn't find my hens.
Usually they run right up to you when they hear the back door open.
Earlier this morning, one of the hens was making almost distressed clucking noises, I thought she was just looking for her sister, but when I couldn't find them, I checked the coop.
The distressed hen [poop chicken] was laying in the nesting box, tail pointed high in the air, and shifting around every minute or so, like she was trying to get comfortable. Her sister was standing outside the nesting box [like she was keeping guard]
My hens don't sleep with their tails pointed up, if anything, they tuck them under and stretch out. This hen was tail up and moving between a laying and a squatting position...
Could this be it??? Could she be in the process of laying an egg???
I feel like I'm waiting for someone to give birth right now!!! But I don't want to get overly excited in case they're just hanging out in the coop.
How long does it take them to lay an egg? Should I keep checking them or leave them alone? Does this even sound like egg laying behavior??? Or am I going mad?! lol
They are on the good feed, cracked corn and oyster shell...
I read on another post here that the eggs are kind of slimy when they are first laid, and a little lightbulb went off in my brain. One of my girls, recently, has started having some matting around her vent...it's not bad, just a few little fluff feathers here and there, stuck together with what looks like white glue [I could tell you what I really think it looks like, but that would be inappropriate to share on a public forum...ha ha ha]
So I grabbed my flashlight and decided to go wander the yard and see if they've been laying somewhere other than their coops...
I didn't find any eggs, but I also couldn't find my hens.
Usually they run right up to you when they hear the back door open.
Earlier this morning, one of the hens was making almost distressed clucking noises, I thought she was just looking for her sister, but when I couldn't find them, I checked the coop.
The distressed hen [poop chicken] was laying in the nesting box, tail pointed high in the air, and shifting around every minute or so, like she was trying to get comfortable. Her sister was standing outside the nesting box [like she was keeping guard]
My hens don't sleep with their tails pointed up, if anything, they tuck them under and stretch out. This hen was tail up and moving between a laying and a squatting position...
Could this be it??? Could she be in the process of laying an egg???
I feel like I'm waiting for someone to give birth right now!!! But I don't want to get overly excited in case they're just hanging out in the coop.
How long does it take them to lay an egg? Should I keep checking them or leave them alone? Does this even sound like egg laying behavior??? Or am I going mad?! lol
