So, I'm not new to chickens but it's been a few years since I've had pullets. I knew nothing of BYC when I began this adventure and my resources for information were rather limited at the time. When I got my first flock, I also got ducklings and they (ducks) were laying first. I was so excited to be getting eggs in general that I didn't really pay attention to the signs of when my pullets would begin laying...so if there were those funny shaped eggs...or soft shelled eggs...all those trial and error eggs, well...I missed them. Flock and bevy were free-range during the day and shared a 12x24' stall at night.
Sadly, I lost all my ducks and all but 2 of my chickens to a fox in the midst of a blizzard when a window in the barn blew out. Of the survivors, one of the girls is from my original flock plus a rescue I acquired about year and a half later. They're 3-4 years old now. They've been faithful layers and each girl gives me 5 eggs every week, like clockwork. I decided this spring to expand my flock so I added 3 pullets who are now at the point of lay; 2 Easter Eggers and a Golden Spangled Hamburg and a younger pair of chicks; an Olive Egger pullet who won't be ready to lay until this fall and an EE cockerel.
Last week was a big week for Helena, one of my EE girls after showing obvious signs of starting the laying process (developing a much calmer disposition, taking a rather confused interest in the wooden eggs in the nesting boxes and rushing in when one of my hens would just finish laying to turn the fresh eggs). I've been checking for signs of trial and error eggs and would occasionally see spots of bright yellow but nothing else so I can only assume they were completely soft-shelled/shell-less and were devoured before I could get a good look.
On the morning of 8/8, when I let the chickens out of their coop, Helena was in the nesting box but I found half of a very soft blue-green shell and some splattered yolk on the floor of the coop. When she finally left the nest there was another blue-green soft shelled egg that was missing the narrow end of the shell but had a complete membrane that held the egg together. So, I assumed that the bit of shell I found on the floor, I somehow missed from the day before.
There was no blue-green egg on 8/9 but on 8/10, after Helena spent quite a long time in the nest, she laid a tiny but whole, hard-shelled blue-green egg...only it was considerably darker than either of the other shells I had found a couple of days prior. She also laid it in the middle of the run (I guess she was tired of hanging out with the wooden eggs).
Now for this morning. Helena was once again in the nest, taking her time so I didn't open the run to let the flock free range until she was finished but once I saw she was in the run, I let them all out and headed into the coop for the treasure...only to be confused by not only a small, funny shaped egg in the nest but a second, smaller egg on the floor but the same shade of blue-green. Both eggs were warm and I can see the coop/run from my living room and kitchen and I could see the rest of the flock in the run the entire time.
My second EE, Josephine hasn't shown any signs of laying; no swollen comb...in fact, she doesn't really have a comb at all, zero interest in the nests, not the wooden eggs, not the real eggs and is still in that spastic adolescent phase. The only thing she has any interest in, besides food, is picking on the two youngest in the flock. It would be quite a coincidence if she snuck into the coop to lay at the exact time Helena laid...not once but twice as opposed to going in when either of my brown egg layers were in there or just laying on the ground outside. I know it's not my Hamburg as her eggs will be white.
I know that they lay 1 egg per day but is it actually possible that Helena has now laid 2 eggs a day for 2 of these days, one right after the other during this stage of her body figuring this whole laying thing out?? Or do I just have a really sneaky 2nd pullet?
Sadly, I lost all my ducks and all but 2 of my chickens to a fox in the midst of a blizzard when a window in the barn blew out. Of the survivors, one of the girls is from my original flock plus a rescue I acquired about year and a half later. They're 3-4 years old now. They've been faithful layers and each girl gives me 5 eggs every week, like clockwork. I decided this spring to expand my flock so I added 3 pullets who are now at the point of lay; 2 Easter Eggers and a Golden Spangled Hamburg and a younger pair of chicks; an Olive Egger pullet who won't be ready to lay until this fall and an EE cockerel.
Last week was a big week for Helena, one of my EE girls after showing obvious signs of starting the laying process (developing a much calmer disposition, taking a rather confused interest in the wooden eggs in the nesting boxes and rushing in when one of my hens would just finish laying to turn the fresh eggs). I've been checking for signs of trial and error eggs and would occasionally see spots of bright yellow but nothing else so I can only assume they were completely soft-shelled/shell-less and were devoured before I could get a good look.
On the morning of 8/8, when I let the chickens out of their coop, Helena was in the nesting box but I found half of a very soft blue-green shell and some splattered yolk on the floor of the coop. When she finally left the nest there was another blue-green soft shelled egg that was missing the narrow end of the shell but had a complete membrane that held the egg together. So, I assumed that the bit of shell I found on the floor, I somehow missed from the day before.
There was no blue-green egg on 8/9 but on 8/10, after Helena spent quite a long time in the nest, she laid a tiny but whole, hard-shelled blue-green egg...only it was considerably darker than either of the other shells I had found a couple of days prior. She also laid it in the middle of the run (I guess she was tired of hanging out with the wooden eggs).
Now for this morning. Helena was once again in the nest, taking her time so I didn't open the run to let the flock free range until she was finished but once I saw she was in the run, I let them all out and headed into the coop for the treasure...only to be confused by not only a small, funny shaped egg in the nest but a second, smaller egg on the floor but the same shade of blue-green. Both eggs were warm and I can see the coop/run from my living room and kitchen and I could see the rest of the flock in the run the entire time.
My second EE, Josephine hasn't shown any signs of laying; no swollen comb...in fact, she doesn't really have a comb at all, zero interest in the nests, not the wooden eggs, not the real eggs and is still in that spastic adolescent phase. The only thing she has any interest in, besides food, is picking on the two youngest in the flock. It would be quite a coincidence if she snuck into the coop to lay at the exact time Helena laid...not once but twice as opposed to going in when either of my brown egg layers were in there or just laying on the ground outside. I know it's not my Hamburg as her eggs will be white.
I know that they lay 1 egg per day but is it actually possible that Helena has now laid 2 eggs a day for 2 of these days, one right after the other during this stage of her body figuring this whole laying thing out?? Or do I just have a really sneaky 2nd pullet?
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