Just got eggs!! Then.. Nothing.

[Shanegrizzly]

Hi everyone!
Me and my wife have been proud backyard chicken parents for about 3 months now, we had 3 beautiful black stars but now have 2 due to a pesky Hawk! We've decided against free ranging and have enclosed their co-op and run to prevent any future issues.
We finally got our first egg the other day (so exciting!!!) Then the next day we got #2!! They were both fairly small eggs but I'm assuming they do get bigger with time, however today nothing... No egg. I thought that once they started laying we'd be having steak and eggs every night!! Is this normal? If I had to guess I'd say they're around 21 week's in age. She's still squating but hasn't been very vocal like she's been the past 2 days. Help!

 

[Nats Chickens]

I have some "Black Stars" (black sexlinks and RIR cross australorp) one is a broody expert, but when she is not trying to hatch eggs she lays an egg almost everyday at the moment! 16 eggs over 18 days! The other lays quite often too, but recently experienced a internallt collapsed egg but has cleared hp now. Your girls should be great layers but don't expect eggs everyday. They should lay fine for a year or two, what you have just said sounds like she is egg bound. Give her bathz in warm water and insert some cooking oil in her vent. Give her lots of water to keep her hydrated. I also recamend getting another 1 or 2 hens, cause 2 is not great coze if one dies, the other will have no friends and become depressed. Also, you won't get that many eggs out of 2 birds once they fall into lay. Hope this helps!
Natalie

 

[Nats Chickens]

My 'Black Stars'...
Belle

Jewel

Mini

 

[Shanegrizzly]

I have some "Black Stars" (black sexlinks and RIR cross australorp) one is a broody expert, but when she is not trying to hatch eggs she lays an egg almost everyday at the moment! 16 eggs over 18 days! The other lays quite often too, but recently experienced a internallt collapsed egg but has cleared hp now. Your girls should be great layers but don't expect eggs everyday. They should lay fine for a year or two, what you have just said sounds like she is egg bound. Give her bathz in warm water and insert some cooking oil in her vent. Give her lots of water to keep her hydrated. I also recamend getting another 1 or 2 hens, cause 2 is not great coze if one dies, the other will have no friends and become depressed. Also, you won't get that many eggs out of 2 birds once they fall into lay. Hope this helps!
Natalie

I have some "Black Stars" (black sexlinks and RIR cross australorp) one is a broody expert, but when she is not trying to hatch eggs she lays an egg almost everyday at the moment! 16 eggs over 18 days! The other lays quite often too, but recently experienced a internallt collapsed egg but has cleared hp now. Your girls should be great layers but don't expect eggs everyday. They should lay fine for a year or two, what you have just said sounds like she is egg bound. Give her bathz in warm water and insert some cooking oil in her vent. Give her lots of water to keep her hydrated. I also recamend getting another 1 or 2 hens, cause 2 is not great coze if one dies, the other will have no friends and become depressed. Also, you won't get that many eggs out of 2 birds once they fall into lay. Hope this helps!
Natalie

Hi Natalie!
Thanks for your response! We definitely plan on adding some more hens next week. We wanna keep it small so we're gonna add 2 more. That's another thing we're a little concerned about, we hope we won't have any issues adding more and stressing them out . We're hoping a few new ones will be welcomed and get along good!

 

[Nats Chickens]

They should DEFINITELY get on if they are all full grown. We actually have some half growns coexisting with some layers but I wouldn't recomend this unless they were free range and the littlies still have an old guinea pig hutch next to the coop to sleep in so no bullying happens during the night. We have four layers and 4 pullets.
Natalie

 

[LittleMissCountry]

It can take awhile for them to become regular layers. I have two black stars as well, and one started laying at 17 weeks. She laid one day, then nothing for three days. Then she laid two soft shell eggs together, then nothing. Then it was off and on for about a week. After about a week and a half, she started laying every day.
My other one laid a soft shell egg a few days ago, then had a normal egg this morning.

 

[aart]

Is this normal?

Yes, it's normal.
Most chickens don't lay every single day...tho yours might eventually because they are high production hybrids.

 

[Shanegrizzly]

Yes, it's normal.
Most chickens don't lay every single day...tho yours might eventually because they are high production hybrids.

We actually got a BIG egg this morning!! It cracked though she pushes all of the hay out of the way and lays her egg on the bottom of the nesting box which is all wood. Should we line the bottom with a small towel or something so that they don't break when laid?

 

[aart]

We actually got a BIG egg this morning!! It cracked though she pushes all of the hay out of the way and lays her egg on the bottom of the nesting box which is all wood. Should we line the bottom with a small towel or something so that they don't break when laid?

A towel might not stay in place. Some folks use feed bags folded up on the bottom of nests for cushion. An old scrap of carpet might work.

New layers can really scratch up a nest, they usually stop doing that once they get in the groove of laying. What are you using for nest bedding? Are the front of the nests 4-6" high to hold bedding, and eggs, inside?

 

[Shanegrizzly]

A towel might not stay in place. Some folks use feed bags folded up on the bottom of nests for cushion. An old scrap of carpet might work.

New layers can really scratch up a nest, they usually stop doing that once they get in the groove of laying. What are you using for nest bedding? Are the front of the nests 4-6" high to hold bedding, and eggs, inside?

We're using hay right now. We bought the nesting boxes from tractor supply, they're pretty deep.