My hen is driving me barmy

[HEChicken]

I have a BO hen who is 19 weeks old. I decided when I got her as a chick that I probably wouldn't see any eggs until the days started to get longer sometime after the New Year so have not been expecting them. I figured if it happens earlier, its a bonus. If not, I won't be disappointed. I was following a thread recently that had pics of BO's once a week from about 20 weeks on, showing comb growth/reddening up to the point of laying. My BO's comb has not grown large but did start to get very red around 17 weeks. Anyway, on Friday, around 10am, what do I hear but the egg song. Not just her either. The whole flock joined in and it was REALLY noisy out there. I checked the nest box. Nothing. Checked all around. Nothing. My flock free ranges but my backyard is not that big, so DH and I went around the entire yard looking in every possible place. Nothing. So I figured they were just "feeling their oats" and went back inside. Saturday around noon, all of a sudden they start up again. Repeat performance. Look everywhere. Nothing. Sunday around 4pm, there it is again. This time its just the hen but she's up on my deck telling me all about it. The thing is, this time, I happened to have looked out the window only moments before and she was scratching in the vegie garden with the rest of them. She didn't even have time to lay between the vegie garden and being on my deck singing away. I figured that if she is really laying, she's following an approximate 26-hour cycle, which would mean she probably won't lay today but may first thing tomorrow morning. So far today, no egg song. When DD got home from school today, she and I did a thorough reconnoiter of the backyard. There is no hidden nest. No eggs. We're 99% positive. So my question is this: Do they sometimes sing the egg song preparatory to actually starting to lay? Does this likely mean that she will be starting sometime soon? Oh - no squatting yet either, if that matters.

 

[mdbokc]

Sounds like the hormones are kicking in. Should not be long hopefully. Some of ours sang shortly before the big event!

 

[cap1717]

Mine all started singing a day or two before the first egg. . . they did not start squatting until at least a week after the first egg. . . still have two that are not squatting, but the egg laying is proceeding on schedule. . .

 

[HEChicken]

Cool - thanks for the reply. When I had chooks in the past, I got them as laying pullets so have never gone through this before.