Strange behaviour from my head chicken

[julia305]

Morning all

Just a random question really - my flock is only 4 months old and i'm obviously only 4 months experience in chickens. On Saturday my head chicken Stella was perfectly normal all morning, laid an egg, had a forage around the garden, chased off the bantams but by about 3 o'clock i went out to the back garden and she was hiding in a bush just standing there doing nothing. I tried to tempt her out with some grapes and she wouldnt move. I hadnt heard any noises coming from the garden. Then about an hour or so later she went into her nest and slept for the rest of the day i was so upset to see her like that. I couldnt tempt her with grapes, raisins, peas,nothing.

But here's the strange thing - yesterday morning she was up and about like normal except her tail wasnt as jaunty as it usually is. She went in to lay an egg early afternoon but came out again. She normally lays first thing in the morning.

Today she is as right as rain by the looks of her. Her tail is pointing up like normal. I am at work at the moment but when i let her out this morning she was pacing up and down and complaining to be let out.

Any clues as to what type of behaviour she was exhibiting? Did something scare her? It was awful seeing her like that. Normally she is bossy and kind of angry lol (except when she's in the dust bath then she purrs). The rest of the flock are perfectly fine.

Thanks

 

[aart]

How long has she been laying?....not long I would assume at only 4 months old.
It can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out in the laying department.
Sometimes when they lay a softshell egg, they can act kind of weird like that beforehand.

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to form, a new ova is released shortly after an egg is laid.
A new egg could be laid approximately every 25-26 hours, so an hour or so later every day until one is laid late in the day and another ova might not be released until the following day, so a day off. BUT..very hen is different and only time will tell what a particular hen/pullets schedule might be. Not every hen/pullet lays every day..some only lay a few a week.

 

[julia305]

ohh OK thank you I thought she was really ill or really scared it was awful seeing her like that. Bless her. She's actually been laying for nearly a month. I was pretty surprised i wasnt expecting eggs until around November. I have another chicken that also lays and about 2 days ago I saw a weak looking egg down in the run rather than in the nest I assumed it was Horatios as she is the next chicken down in the pecking order but perhaps it was Stellas then. that explains it. Its hard to tell which chicken lays which egg to be honest.

Regarding the times - that's good to know i do actually hope she starts laying a bit later as she sings the egg song and as i live in the city I am waiting for my neighbours to start complaining as she starts up about 6am lol. Sometimes she sings it without actually having laid an egg bless her. God I was worried about her yesterday. Thank you for your advice that's put my mind at rest.

 

[aart]

I know of no breed that would lay at 3 months old...she must be a bit older.
My birds often sit trancing out or just lounging in the nests without laying.

 

[julia305]

Well I got them at the beginning of May so my math is probably slightly out. They were about a week old I believe. She's definitely been laying for a couple of weeks tho. I'm glad she's ok