Laying eggs from the top of the roost!!

[The Eggplant]

Hi there fellow chicken enthusiasts!

We just got our very first chickens back in March. We have 4 Barred Rock hens, and they are 19 weeks old. One of the girls started giving us our first eggs five days ago, so that was very exciting!! More exciting still - she lays 2 eggs at a time!! Problem is, aside from the eggs both being teensy tiny, and both having paper thin shells, she's laying the eggs from the top of the roost, so I find two completely cracked eggs in a large pile of poop every other day (she has been consistently laying every other day since she started, so she's laid double sets of small eggs three times now).

The day we got the first eggs, I was very excited but also a little panicked as they had not quite started the layer feed yet and were finishing up a bag of all-purpose feed - so I went and added layer feed to the last of the all-purpose feed that was in their feeder. I also added crushed egg shell to their feed and added apple cider vinegar to their water to help them absorb the calcium.

Also, up until "first egg day" they had not had access to the nesting boxes as we did not want them forming any bad habits in them, like sleeping or pooping. But as soon as my husband got home from work that evening, he removed the boards blocking access to them, and filled them with nice, soft, fluffy pine shavings, and we even put some fake wooden eggs in them to show the girls that's where they should lay.

But, alas, my girl is still laying from the top of the roost, and the eggs are still tiny and paper thin… and sadly, completely un-usable as they are cracked so badly - it's a little disheartening that we've had to throw away our very first SIX eggs!

 

[ChickenMammX4]

My girls have just started laying within the last month so my experience is limited...

First of all, are you sure only 1 of your pullets is laying? I have 6, 3 are consistantly laying now and this morning I found 2 soft shelled eggs (1 on ramp, 1 on poop board) in addition to 2 perfect egga in the nesting boxes. Seems like 2 more have joined the ranks! All mine seemed to have laid a soft shelled egg their first time. At first there were a couple good eggs laid on the poop board as well but we made some changes to the nesting box set-up; wider perch outside the boxes and REMOVING the golfballs :/ We had 0 golfballs in box #1, 1 golfball in box #2 and 2 golfballs in box #3. They would only lay in box #1 so we removed the balls and now they use all 3. We have 3 different breeds so it's a little easier knowing the eggs come from different hens so far.

We didn't start layer crumbles until just this week but there was oyster shell available. We opened up the nesting boxes about a month ago but they didn't even seem interested until they started laying.

The eggs are smaller than extra large store-bought eggs but perfect and delicious.

ETA: I just came in from the coop, egg #3 was there (all my consistant layers for today).

 

[Percheron chick]

I wouldn't worry about her laying yet. Give her two weeks for her body to work things out. If she keeps it up, then start worrying. Diet should not of been part of the equation.

 

[The Eggplant]

I am 99.9% positive it's only one of my hens laying 2 eggs at a time… all signs point to that being the case, but I can't confirm 100% since I haven't actually watched her lay the eggs with my own eyes, haha!

Here's a pic of the first eggs we got - they are so small, and the shells are practically see through. I found them in the coop directly under the roost right next to each other (as close as they are in this picture).

Then, no eggs the following day.

On the 3rd day, we got these, and I had the mindset to take a picture of them as I found them in the coop - same exact situation!


No eggs the 4th day.

And then, normally I wouldn't have found these next eggs until this morning, but I was up really late last night and decided to check on the girls before I went to bed just before midnight, and I found this:



We have 3 nesting boxes… the first one has 1 wooden egg in it, and although no real eggs have been laid in it, one of the girls got into it. The second one has 1 wooden egg in it, and has not been touched at all. The third one has zero wooden eggs in it, and one of the girls got into it at some point this morning.

 

[The Eggplant]

Ok, thank you! I was thinking to myself, if this were a human woman, it would possibly take several months for her cycle to regulate out, but I had no idea what to expect timeframe wise for a chicken! So that answered that question, haha! I told my husband that I didn't think I needed to worry too much about it just yet, but just wasn't really sure! I'll give it at least another solid week and see how things are going.

So many people have told me to use oyster shell instead of crushed egg shells… and I'm not opposed to that if that's what we need to do, but I really want to give it some more time to see if egg shells will be enough for adding additional calcium to their diets - it would be much more sustainable for me! But I'd happily buy some oyster shell from our local feed store if the egg shells just don't do the trick!

 

[Percheron chick]

Layer feed has adequate Ca levels for egg shells but a little extra that they can pick at if needed is a good idea. The egg shells mixed in with the other kitchen scraps should do the trick. I'm with you on repurposing.

 

[The Eggplant]

Wow - lots of excitement in the coop this morning! The girls seem to finally be checking out the nesting boxes, yay!! And, I heard the "egg song" for the first time this morning, and I was so excited, I went out and checked, but no eggs… but she's been in and out of the nest boxes all morning.

And last night, I basically confirmed that the hen that is laying is in fact the only one laying and laying 2 soft shelled eggs at a time. We got home from dinner with my in law's last night and I went out to check on them, and when I opened the coop, I saw all 4 of them lined up on the roost, with a soft shelled, completely cracked egg right underneath the hen that is laying… so I thought, well, if she's going to follow her same pattern, then she has another egg to lay. So I very gently and carefully lifted her off the roost and placed her in one of the nesting boxes… she didn't love that, and I didn't want to stress her out, so I just let her be, and she wandered around the coop for a few minutes and then she laid her 2nd egg right in front of me!! Problem is, even though she didn't lay it from the roost this time, it was an incomplete shell - only about half of the shell was formed. I watched as the shell came out followed by the yolk… not sure what to do about this. I was worried that this could be dangerous in some way, but in doing some research online, I've learned that this could be kinda normal since she's still pretty young and a new layer…

I also finally got colored bands put on 3 or the 4 girls so I can quickly identify them, and I'm excited to finally give them names! The only one that doesn't have a band yet is the one that is laying… she's quite a bit more shy/timid/reserved than the others and I didn't want to stress her too much by trying to catch her… the other girls are fairly easy to catch and will come right up to me.