Why is my hen laying her eggs on the roost?

[GrandmaKatnip]

When this happens, is the egg safe to eat if the shell is intact?

 

[Babsby]

How old are they? How long have they been laying?

It’s not totally unusual for a pullet’s first egg or two to come as a surprise to her. It’s like she doesn’t know what’s going on. That’s just part of her needing to get the kinks out of all the parts of her internal egg laying factory. I’ve found pullet’s first eggs under the roosts, on the coop floor, or even out in the run. She just hasn’t learned control yet.

If they are older and have been laying a while, it is something else. But if she is just starting to lay, there is nothing wrong or unusual about it.

To me it is amazing how many actually get it right to start with.

Your reply was much needed. One of our Barred Rocks (just about 8 mo. old) laid her first egg while up on the roost. It broke. We were just so excited the chickens were reaching the age of laying that a broken one really didn't matter (much) but pray they all find one of the nesting boxes to be more suitable.

 

[genxjanette]

Your reply was much needed. One of our Barred Rocks (just about 8 mo. old) laid her first egg while up on the roost. It broke. We were just so excited the chickens were reaching the age of laying that a broken one really didn't matter (much) but pray they all find one of the nesting boxes to be more suitable.

My chickens have just started laying too. They are 6 months old now. The first layers are the ISA Browns, and one of them dropped her first egg on the poop deck, but then figured out where to lay for the next couple of weeks. Now, this week she is back to laying on the poop deck again. Sunday and Monday morning we had poop deck eggs, yesterday morning she laid it in the nest box, then this morning her egg was back on the poop deck. I'm not sure what's going on in her little brain. We have 3 elevated nest boxes and two nest boxes on the ground to chose from. I guess she still needs to sort it out,