Maiden voyage into egg-laying - some questions

[KDH]

I have four golden laced Wyandotte pullets - they're 15 weeks old. I'm assuming I have a few weeks before they start laying, but I have a couple of questions. First, they are "pastured" in our back yard; they have a coup they go into at night, and it has nesting boxes, which so far they completely ignore. And they only go in the coup at night; otherwise, they spend all of their time out in their little yard. So, will they go back into the coup to lay in the nesting boxes? They're "pasture" is basically our lawn; not really any other "nest-able" areas.

Also, I read about putting ping pong balls or something in the nesting boxes. Is that supposed to clue them in to this being the place to lay?

And finally, I've read about the "egg-laying song." My girls so far are very quiet. They are constantly making noise and talking, but it amounts to really just a lot of "murmuring." It's very pretty, but you can't hear it unless you're right next to them. Do all hens make loud egg-laying songs, or are some breeds just louder than others?

Thanks for any input.

 

[damselfish]

Hi there!

Yes, you probably have a few weeks to go at least, I don't have any GLWs & some breeds seem to be later/earlier than others.

I don't remember mine doing the egg song until there were eggs. They started to squat down a bit when we tried to pet them, and I remember they made some different noises. Perhaps their vocal cords were just getting ready to sing the egg song?

Ping pong balls, golf balls, wooden craft eggs, whatever you have. Put one in each box...they will help them figure out where they should lay. Once they have the point, some people take them out. I just leave them in there...after all, what am I going to do with a dirty wooden egg?

Ours didn't show any interest whatsoever in the nest boxes until about a week(?) before the time came to use them. Then, voila...eggs in the nest. So don't worry too much.

Have fun!

 

[feathersnuggles]

Check out the spreadsheet link in the first post on this topic "How old was your chicken when she laid her 1st egg?" You'll get a picture of the average for Wyandottes.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=231744

My Blue Wyandotte was almost 40 weeks old when she laid her first. She was the last to lay of my flock of 5 different breeds. The first was 19 weeks old.