New egg layer mom question

[JollyChickenLady]

Forgive me.... but I'm a new chicken mom & got my first egg this week!! Shirley.... who I thought was an Australorp laid her first egg earlier this week. She was signing her head off with the egg song for a few hours .... kept going in & out of the coop & rooting around in the nest box.... I kept running out looking for an egg. I finally saw her nesting/sitting in the nest box... then hear the song again... went out to find the most precious little pale greenish-blue egg...... Now I'm suspecting she's NOT an australorp at all..... but probably an egger of some kind?

She laid her second egg today, about 3 days from first. I was watching from work on the coop camera & she was in & out of coop.... rooting around in nest again.... kept sitting/squatting in the nest box for a few hours.... The other two hens were excellent midwives & stayed by her side very concerned looking..... finally she laid her egg & moved on with her day. She seems fine & is playing, eating & drinking fine. The second egg is precious & perfect just like the first!!! My question is.... it seems to take a couple hours for the process to happen & she seems anxious or unsettled during the process...... is this normal? I don't know what signs of egg bound or other issues are..... so just wanted to make sure this was normal or a newly laying hen....

Also.... I was just so amazed at how the other hens stayed by her side the entire time ..... like little sister midwives!!! These birds are just so entertaining.

 

[nuthatched]

My question is.... it seems to take a couple hours for the process to happen & she seems anxious or unsettled during the process...... is this normal? I don't know what signs of egg bound or other issues are..... so just wanted to make sure this was normal or a newly laying hen....

Pretty normal until they figure out what's going on. :]

 

[Tonyroo]

It's normal for her. Since she doesn't have an older hen to teach her.

 

[Mrs. K]

Very normal, even older birds sometimes just seem to dilly dally before they get it done. I don't really worry about egg bounding, it is anomaly, rather than a common problem. I have never had a bird with this problem, but then I don't watch them constantly and let them do their own thing.

 

[Millsa]

My hens just started laying for the first time and they are in and out and up and down and seems normal. One of my hens sat on the nest on and off for a couple days and no egg. i began to get worried that she could be egg bound… but i saw her eating - drinking - and POOPING - they wont poop if they are egg bound. ( I READ that somewhere ) so i was grateful - she then gave me a beautiful egg after about day 4 of on and off the nest again. the smallest hen i have knows automatically where the nesting box is and does her business in the box and its great. The bully hen - lays her eggs on the roosting bar and they break. they are also pale and soft eggs. So i think shes just learning how to do this.. it takes them a while. We’ve got a few of their eggs in the incubator. *yes we have a rooster* i checked the broken eggs for their fertility and they are fertile. Sadly we cant eat the broken eggs since they are laying in the poop below the nesting box. OMG. They will get it.!!! I know they will. Silly girls.