New to chickens, 1st egg today, why do they leave their eggs?

[riverpie]

I'm new to this site and chickens too but I got a chicken this summer because we had a rooster that came up a few years ago (wild I guess) and figured he was lonely. Anyway, I got a Cochan/Silky Mix. She's really cute by the way. I was told she was a juvenile and probably wouldn't lay eggs until spring but she laid an egg in the back of my truck today. Found it this morning. I was about to post a pic and heard a lot of commotion and she had just laid another one. I don't know when the 1st one was laid but probably recent. She left it right after she laid it. Never checked on it again today. Is that normal? It was about 30 degrees today so I went ahead and put it in the fridge and left the other one out there. It is so small it will probably be about 2 bites of egg. I'm not sure what I need to do from here. We built her a nice tractor coop but the rooster led her to a tree about 1 1/2 months ago and she eventually starting staying in there with him at night, follows him everywhere and decided she wanted to tree down with him instead of getting in her nice coop. I live in the country so it is safer for her. Why would she leave her eggs? Do chickens only take care of their eggs in the spring or is there a problem with some chickens not sitting on them? She just got the comb on her head about 2-3 weeks ago. I guess that's a sign she's getting of age to start laying. ??? I wish the rooster and her would stay in our yard instead of the neighbors tree. A tornado took out our trees last year so we don't have any for them to roost in. I just don't understand why she would leave her egg.

 

[chics in the sun]

Chickens only sit on their eggs when they are "broody". This involves a hormonal shift, and you can tell they are broody when they sit in their nest and only come out once a day to eat, drink, and poop. They will collect a little clutch of eggs, sometimes from other chickens, and will get very angry when you try to take the eggs away - or get anywhere near them. So you have to wait until she experiences this hormonal shift and decides she wants to sit on eggs and hatch babies. Otherwise, they just lay an egg and go on their merry way. That is perfectly normal.

 

[cjduckmommy]

Some chickens just don't go broody they will just leave their eggs..however I would EXTREMELY recomend that you try to get her into a coop at night. Maybe getting the rooster to also would help her???

 

[BookWorm243]

Once she has a clutch of eggs she will sit on them. Until them she leaves them in a spot she picks. Cochins and silkies both make good mothers so she is a good mix and will go broody and hatch her clutch when she is ready. If you want them to go in the coop then you need to figure out what time they go to roost a the tree and right before that catch them and put them in the coop, in my experience it took only a couple days it may take up to a couple weeks till they get the point that they go there at night.

 

[tuesdays chicks]

i just wanted to say

the other posts answered your question.

 

[tuesdays chicks]

oh and build some nice roosts in your yard, they might stay.

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Agreed...BUT, It's been my experience that it takes a couple of weeks, not a couple of days when they're used to roosting someplace else that is easy to reach once you let them out.

 

[BookWorm243]

Sorry

I was going off of my chickens. They had made up their minds that they where to roost on my steps. After 4 days of putting them in the coop they got the point. I dont have a rooster maybe it makes a difference?

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Nothing to be sorry about. I hope my post didn't make you feel that way--totally not my intention. Like you I'm just going off how it's worked around here. When we finished construction on the new coop I locked the girls in for a few days but when I let them out they headed back to the old thrown together rabbit hutch/dog run "coop" at bedtime. I ended up having to lock them into the new set up (8x10x6x coop with 300 sq' run) for two weeks before they got the idea that that was their home. Silly chooks! I thought they'd be as happy as I was about their new place, but they do seem to be creatures of habbit.

 

[riverpie]

Thanks for all the information. I imagine the rooster makes a difference. He acts different since I got the chicken. He finds food for her and makes a noise for her to come get it. She follows him everywhere. We made a nesting box out of crates today and hung them on the lean-to. If we could get the rooster to go up there, she would probably follow but he's never been picked up and has huge spurs. I've only picked her up once or twice. Pics are on my blog along with her first egg from yesterday. I'll try and post a pic on here too.
Thanks everybody.


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