First of all - HAPPY NEW YEAR!
My BO always lays in the nesting box, but yesterday she was in there sounding like she was doing nest box renovation - tap-tapping on the side with her beak. She has never done that before. She left the nest just as I was leaving the house, so I figured I'd get the egg when I returned. When I got home and walked to the coop, I saw an egg in the middle of the run. I got excited thinking that my SLW had finally laid her first egg and maybe got confused about where to lay it, but no, it belonged to the BO who for some reason decided to leave the nesting box and just pop out the egg on the ground. Whacky chicken! I just hope this doesn't become a habit - the eggs are much cleaner when they're laid in the pine shavings.

My BO always lays in the nesting box, but yesterday she was in there sounding like she was doing nest box renovation - tap-tapping on the side with her beak. She has never done that before. She left the nest just as I was leaving the house, so I figured I'd get the egg when I returned. When I got home and walked to the coop, I saw an egg in the middle of the run. I got excited thinking that my SLW had finally laid her first egg and maybe got confused about where to lay it, but no, it belonged to the BO who for some reason decided to leave the nesting box and just pop out the egg on the ground. Whacky chicken! I just hope this doesn't become a habit - the eggs are much cleaner when they're laid in the pine shavings.