IS my chicken laying an egg or is she ill?

[ChurpyChicken]

Shes approximately 4months old.
She's a black cochin.

Shes been acting odd all morning, sat on the grass making noises as thought shes trying to lay an egg but has never laid one before.

Is she ill? Or is she trying to lay her first egg?

I have 4 other cochins approximately a week younger than her and are not laying eggs.

Are they allowed laying pellets at this age?

 

[ColoradoMike]

Our first layer, a red sex link, definately acted odd prior to laying it's first egg. It was making soft clucking noises in the bushes and just seemed 'off'. We observed her for awhile and then went into the house - I came out after 10 minues or so and she had 'layed' a soft shell egg on the ground out in the run, while standing up. I think it was pretty shocked about what had just transpired (can't say I blame her). She then had what appeared to be egg white leaking from her vent for the next ~12 hours or so - I was quite concerned as she didn't get on the roost that night and there was a real mess beneath her the next morning in the coop - it looked like her next egg just seeped out with no shell. So, I cleaned up after her and she seemed back to normal the next afternoon. A day or so later, we got our first normal egg.

So yeah, our first layer acted wierd before her first egg. I didn't notice it with our other two hens.

Regarding when to start layer feed, opinions vary from beginning at 16 weeks to waiting for the first egg...

Good luck!

 

[ColoradoMike]

Oh, I forgot to ask - is she squatting for you? All three of our hens began squatting submissively for me about a week or 10 days prior to laying their first egg...