Pullet building nests

[Crystal Chicken]

I have a pullet who seems to be very close to her first egg and she's had a day, 2 days ago where she furiously searched for a spot to lay and made a few places in the yard that looks like nests, with it all dug out and a hole in the middle. Still no egg and the past two days seems to be back to not having that behaviour. Is she still far from that first egg? Or do you think it's fair to say she's pretty close?

I have two different types of nesting boxes with straw and fake eggs in the coop for her to lay in, though I haven't seen her explore them too much.

I assume she will figure it out.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

A dark place in the coop is good maybe some wooden nesting boxes with cloth or fabric maybe even some fresh straw. My 34 pullets love laying there eggs in straw nests.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have a pullet who seems to be very close to her first egg and she's had a day, 2 days ago where she furiously searched for a spot to lay and made a few places in the yard that looks like nests, with it all dug out and a hole in the middle. Still no egg and the past two days seems to be back to not having that behaviour. Is she still far from that first egg? Or do you think it's fair to say she's pretty close?

I have two different types of nesting boxes with straw and fake eggs in the coop for her to lay in, though I haven't seen her explore them too much.

I assume she will figure it out.

Without photos, no way to guess if she's close to laying. Are you sure she wasn't dust bathing?

There's ways to show them nest boxes if they don't figure it out on their own, but most layers will if given some time.

 

[Crystal Chicken]

Without photos, no way to guess if she's close to laying. Are you sure she wasn't dust bathing?

There's ways to show them nest boxes if they don't figure it out on their own, but most layers will if given some time.

It definitely wasn't dust bathing. She was very antsy and loud running back and forth from the coop to the backdoor. She was checking out the nest boxes also, but never went in them. She found a spot under our deck and just stayed in there alone for periods of time. I actually couldn't find her for quite a while that day. But still she hasn't acted like that again. So maybe it was a little surge of hormones or something but has now recovered ? Lol who knows. Crazy cluckers...

 

[rosemarythyme]

It definitely wasn't dust bathing. She was very antsy and loud running back and forth from the coop to the backdoor. She was checking out the nest boxes also, but never went in them. She found a spot under our deck and just stayed in there alone for periods of time. I actually couldn't find her for quite a while that day. But still she hasn't acted like that again. So maybe it was a little surge of hormones or something but has now recovered ? Lol who knows. Crazy cluckers...

That's a pretty red comb, so that combined with the behaviors does make it sound like laying is going to start sooner rather than later, and was fussing over her options.

If the underside of your deck is open to them, I wouldn't be surprised if you looked down there some day and found a stash of eggs. If laying ever drops off in the future that'd be the first place to check.

 

[Crystal Chicken]

That's a pretty red comb, so that combined with the behaviors does make it sound like laying is going to start sooner rather than later, and was fussing over her options.

If the underside of your deck is open to them, I wouldn't be surprised if you looked down there some day and found a stash of eggs. If laying ever drops off in the future that'd be the first place to check.

I didn't even realize it was open until I saw her come out from under it I tried blocking it off because it goes quite far under, 4ft or so, and I don't want to have to try to get those out.

Thank you

 

[Crystal Chicken]

So update:
For anyone who stumbles on this thread and going through the same thing ,I am pretty sure our hen laid her first egg this day. I had just had surgery so wasn't out there watching them and hanging out, my husband was and kept telling me she was being loud and very chatty.

My daughter found her egg yesterday and we heard her egg song so thought it was from that day. But she handed it to me and it was cold, so I thought that was weird. She continued to squawk and pace and continually prepare her nest. I eventually locked her in the coop as she was trying to lay under the deck, and shortly after she laid her egg! So we found two eggs yesterday from her but one was likely from the first day she was acting weird.