Hi - Sunday of this week I found a wonderful surprise on TOP of the nest box from one of the three girls in my workshop quarantine area - her very first egg. She's a 28 week old Buff Orpington. She's been a trooper and so far also gave me an egg Monday, and another one later in the day yesterday (laid it around 5:30 pm) - and those subsequent eggs were both inside the nest box. I was home from work a bit early yesterday, and when I went in the shop to say hi and check on them, I could see she was ready and trying to lay. Her rear end and abdomen were contracting, and she was in the nest box. What was troubling was how stressed she seemed. She wasn't sitting still, kept re-positioning herself in the nest, and her mouth was hanging open. I found it a little bit cool to be able to watch her in the process, but I don't know if that was normal. It took her probably 20 minutes to get the job done (from when I first saw her - I don't know when it all started). I had left the shop and gone out to work in the yard nearby and heard the girls go nuts, so I knew when she was done.
Is this because she's new to the whole thing and hasn't really gotten used to the routine yet, or is it something I should be worried about?
Is this because she's new to the whole thing and hasn't really gotten used to the routine yet, or is it something I should be worried about?