Who else is waiting for that first egg?

[LI chickie]

Is it normal for hens to lay at night? Two differant mornings I have found an egg dropped from the roost and broken on the poop board.

That has happened with my chicks before they started laying. They are about 19 weeks old and I'm still only getting about 3 eggs a day from 6 chickens.

 

[cuckoo mama]

Quote:
My Cuckoo Maran just started laying a few days ago. She got a little egg bound with her first egg and we had to lube her up and put her in a steamy room and all that. I don't know if that affected the egg color at all, but that first egg was practically white it was so light. She laid another egg a couple of days ago which was light brown - about as dark as an average brown grocery store egg and definitely lighter than the darker end of the grocery store spectrum. And still not any darker than the eggs my red sex link laid. I'm hoping they get darker, but she is a hatchery bird so I'm not holding my breath. She is a lovely bird, but I was really hoping for some dark eggs!

mine are also hatchery grade. They came from the local feed store. Do you know about the normal age for them to start laying?Mine just hit 20 weeks.

 

[LDzuray]

We FINALLY got our first egg!!! One of our 2 Golden Comets laid it this morning - all 6 of our girls are 24 weeks old and we were starting to worry about ever getting an egg. Lucy didn't make a peep when she laid so I didn't even think to go look for it until I went out to give my girls some ice in their water. Now I hope my other Golden, my RIR, My columbian PR, and my 2 BB follow quickly behind her. Yay!!!

 

[animalgrl]

mine are also hatchery grade. They came from the local feed store. Do you know about the normal age for them to start laying?Mine just hit 20 weeks.

I don't know. This is my first time with chickens. I got mine as a started pullet and don't know exactly when she hatched, but I'm guessing she was between 4 and 6 weeks when I got her in mid February so best guess is that she is 27 or 28 weeks right now. Cuckoo (her name is Cuckoo - creative, right?) just started laying on Sunday. She did have a bad case of coccidiosis in June, however, and she lost a lot of weight (weighed less than 2 pounds at one point) so she has spent the past two months putting on weight. I'm guessing that could have delayed when she started laying.

 

[laford501]

Examples of egg song.
Squatting is when a pullet drops down on her belly suddenly. It's a submissive behavior indicating that the pullet is reaching maturity.

Do they start singing the egg song before they actually lay? I heard my GSL "singing" this morning about 9 am. It sounded just like the hens in this link. I had gone out there earlier and she and my RIR were squawking up a storm and it almost sounded like the egg song. Then when I was about to leave I heard that magical melody that is the same as these links and I rushed out there and peaked through the fence so I could see who it was. My daughter and I watched for a minute and then went to go investigate. I don't know if we interrupted her or what but there were no eggs. We went away to give her privacy and checked again around 2:30 pm. Still no eggs. I have searched their whole pen and opened up the coop and sifted through the bedding.. Nothing there. They are enclosed until it cools in the evening when we let them out to forage so there is no chance that the egg is "hiding" anywhere. And there isn't any sign of a crushed egg or yolk.

 

[junebuggena]

Do they start singing the egg song before they actually lay? I heard my GSL "singing" this morning about 9 am. It sounded just like the hens in this link. I had gone out there earlier and she and my RIR were squawking up a storm and it almost sounded like the egg song. Then when I was about to leave I heard that magical melody that is the same as these links and I rushed out there and peaked through the fence so I could see who it was. My daughter and I watched for a minute and then went to go investigate. I don't know if we interrupted her or what but there were no eggs. We went away to give her privacy and checked again around 2:30 pm. Still no eggs. I have searched their whole pen and opened up the coop and sifted through the bedding.. Nothing there. They are enclosed until it cools in the evening when we let them out to forage so there is no chance that the egg is "hiding" anywhere. And there isn't any sign of a crushed egg or yolk.

Some sing their heads off several weeks before they start laying. Some never do it much at all, even after they have started laying. When it comes to pullets, 'close to laying eggs' could mean a few days or a month. There are signs that it will happen soon, but there is no way to predict exactly how long 'soon' will be.

 

[chickenewbee]

Mine have been making weird noises for weeks, but no eggs. One was "squatting" but the others were not.

I didn't hear anything from them today, but there were the two first eggs this morning and another two this afternoon.

Do they start singing the egg song before they actually lay? I heard my GSL "singing" this morning about 9 am. It sounded just like the hens in this link. I had gone out there earlier and she and my RIR were squawking up a storm and it almost sounded like the egg song. Then when I was about to leave I heard that magical melody that is the same as these links and I rushed out there and peaked through the fence so I could see who it was. My daughter and I watched for a minute and then went to go investigate. I don't know if we interrupted her or what but there were no eggs. We went away to give her privacy and checked again around 2:30 pm. Still no eggs. I have searched their whole pen and opened up the coop and sifted through the bedding.. Nothing there. They are enclosed until it cools in the evening when we let them out to forage so there is no chance that the egg is "hiding" anywhere. And there isn't any sign of a crushed egg or yolk.

 

[Diney]

I love to hear the egg song...

 

[desertrocks]

We have 1 EE who will be 5 months at the end of August, nothing from her yet but hopefully soon.
16 Black Sex-LinKS and 3 RIR at 4 month.
1 Amberlink, 1 SLW, 1GLW who are 7-10 days younger than the RIR's.
It is still very hot here(110+ this week) so we are in no rush.
We also have Jimmy Crackcorn who will be 8 months old soon and is a little big for the rest of the crew so until we find him his own girls or ours get big enough, he is large and in charge of the yard.

 

[laford501]

Some sing their heads off several weeks before they start laying. Some never do it much at all, even after they have started laying. When it comes to pullets, 'close to laying eggs' could mean a few days or a month. There are signs that it will happen soon, but there is no way to predict exactly how long 'soon' will be.

OK, thanks for all the info! Several are squatting--now that I know what it means.. Lol. The 2 in question have larger combs that have turned red and have lately been spending more time inside the henhouse scratching around. Hopefully I will get that first egg soon! Maybe the weather will cool and that will help as well.