The 'egg laying song' and who sings it...

[DawnB]

Morning...I have an observation and want to see if others see the same thing. I've heard about the egg laying song the hens will sing and how other hens will encourage the laying hen.

Well, my girls have just gotten back into egg laying after finishing up their molt.

I've only had them since September and they were off their laying between being stressed from the move and their molting. So I've finally been hearing the telltale song (they didn't do it when we first got them)...but I hadn't actually seen them do it till the other day.

Turns out, my "singers" encouraging the layer aren't other hens...they are my 2 subordinate roo's!

Is this weird or normal? I thought it was a riot...not only that, but the look the hen was giving them was a "Um, do you mind...I'm a bit busy here". Hilarious!

So, does anyone else have a serenading rooster?

 

[chfite]

Sometimes the whole flock joins in on the egg song. Sometimes only the one that laid sings.

Chris

 

[gg706]

In my flock I have only seen the hen that laid sing an egg song. I bet seeing the roos getting in on the action is hilarious! You should post a video of it!

 

[Hillschicks]

Some of our older hens will sometimes get in on the action... I always wanted to be at a large chicken farm and hear hundreds do it at once

 

[chattykathy306]

I have never heard this. The coop way at the back of the yard and I haven't been out there much since last week when we finally got the first of 4 eggs from our Barred Rock. I have been trying to estimate when she lays, but so far haven't figured it out. Do they normally always lay at the same time of day? Also, the first egg was very small and now the 4th one is as well, but the 2 in between were getting somewhat larger. Is this varying egg size normal when she is just getting started? I keep hoping the others will get going, kind of like women who live/work together and get on the same cycle.

I have 4 daughters, so have some knowledge of this! Oh, that reminds me, I think they might have something like PMS as well, because they were "confronting" one another and pecking at the cats. Hmmmm. So funny and interesting.

 

[glassgal]

Bahahaha!! Our top roo does that! He cracks me up because he sounds like such a girl!!

 

[gg706]

My chickens laid very quietly at first, I think as they mature and understand what is going on...they get more proud of their creation! And then they want everyone to know about their glorious contribution! I believe chickens lay about an hour later each day until they get close to nighttime laying and then start back over in the morning and the cycle starts again. Dont hold me to the fire on that....just info I picked up somewhere...not sure where or I would double check to see that I was correct. Maybe someone else can confirm or correct my info if I am incorrect. My chickens eggs started out REALLY small, each time they got bigger. Now it is winter so they have all but stopped laying when they were just really getting started. So I am hopeful I will start getting good sized eggs in the spring.

 

[Den in Penn]

Some of our older hens will sometimes get in on the action... I always wanted to be at a large chicken farm and hear hundreds do it at once

I grew up on a farm that had upwards of 600 chickens. I never heard a group sing until I had a much smaller flock. There was always a bit of noise out in the chicken house. If there was a group sing going on it was a sub flock and the song was buried in the others sound. Of course I was young and focused on the cows.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

You think your roo is weird, when my girls go to lay my roo jumps in to one of the nest boxes either with them or by himself then he jumps out and stamps his feet them jumps in again and gets stuck then wriggle out stamps his feet again then leave s then come back in the nest box and so on and so on.

 

[Bama1]

My RIR sings for my EE. And my game hen sings for the RIR. I wonder who will sing for the game hen when she starts back laying, she just raised 5 chicks that are 8-9 weeks old and she is going into a molt, but will still sing for the RIR. The EE doesnt sing for anyone.