My Barred Rocks seem to take forever (each) to lay an egg. Up to 15 minutes or more.

[Claire65]

I have 10 Barred Rock hens who lay consistently. There are 4 laying boxes in the coop. They wait in line as each ONE lays an egg. Seems to be taking up to 15 minutes for each to lay an egg. They're very healthy and have been doing this since the start of their laying. Yee gads. Any answers? They come on out doing their egg song and of course seem very proud. Just forever to do their thing. They free range, get laying pellets, calcium, some meal worms for treats. They also get blueberries almost every day (once with pellets). No corn or very little. Absolutely no sweet cob (they become wild/crazy). Any answers to this parade line of chickens waiting despite the availability of laying boxes? So they lay their eggs from 8 am to around 12 pm-ish.

 

[sourland]

Normal behavior. Regardless of how many nest boxes you have, the hens want only one or two - 'the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence'.

 

[nuthatched]

I have a hen who scratches around and changes positions a good hour before laying. If it's crazy, it's normal

 

[Sally PB]

I have two hens that are "loungers." They can sit in the nest box for a couple of hours. I swear they're reading a book in there. War and Peace, or other quick, light reads.

 

[BlueBaby]

The egg takes time to work it's way down the hen to the vent. Think of it as like a woman's birth canal. Those babies don't pop out in 2 to 5 minutes neither.

 

[Callender Girl]

While my runner ducks have literally dropped an egg while on the move, some of my chickens lay fairly quickly and a few will hang out in the nest box for hours. My Iowa Blues pretty much make it a half-day affair. And, they both always want to lay in the same box, although there are four boxes in that coop.

In one of the coops, the standard practice is for a hen to plop into a nest box while another hen stands by the box -- ignoring an identical available box -- while SCREAMING at the girl who is hogging the space.

I have 16 nest boxes for 18 hens. Only seven of the boxes EVER get used.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

"Child bearing" is tough work!..............From what I've seen, not done.