Ok, someone (not sure who - as I have yet to install my "chicken-cam") keeps laying eggs while roosting. So far it's been ok, as none of the eggs have broken - they land in the shavings on the floor. But, it's a bit yucky, since they continue to poop afterwards. The egg I just got this morning wasn't covered, but they have been.
Question is, does anyone have any ideas on how to convince whoever it is to lay in 1 of the 3 nesting boxes we have provided???? It seems that she is laying very early morning, before sunrise. When I go out to the coop (anytime between 6:30-7am) the eggs I find on the floor are already cool.
Any thoughts?
Not the brightest girl in the coop!
Hi Teresa
I know it is dark out due to daylight savings. Do you think you could wake her up earlier ( a timer light or wake up call) and put her in the nesting box?
That is crazy! What a funny chicken! I dont know...has anyone else experienced anything like this????
Hi,
We have a light on until 10:30pm to simulate the longer day. Being that I don't know "who" it is....I'm not sure what I would do ??? My husband interrupted one of the girls laying a while back and she got mad and kicked the egg out of the box and ate it!!! I don't know....again - we need an instruction manual!!
T. :)
My seramas do that. They are the only ones. I have no idea why. Have you done the thing with the fake eggs in the nesting boxes and sat her in there to see them?
Are you certain she's laying while roosting? I'd be inclined to think that since they are not breaking that she's hoping down and laying in the nice shavings below where she roosts.
We taught our girls to lay in the box by putting a golf ball in there. Lacey was our first layer. We knew she was getting ready to lay by the way she crouched. My husband and I spent an entire day finding her and gently placing her in the box. She finally layed in the box and it hasn't been an issue since.... well, now the issue is she won't get OUT of the box. ha! ;-) good luck!
Lazy ladies just stated what I was inclined to think also, I have never heard of one laying while roosting, but its not uncommon for one to be laid under roosting hens. thats why you never place the water, and feeders under the roost. Usually if you just go with the flo they generally get the idea of nesting from the other girls. Especially if they go broody. As L. L. said then it's hard to get them out of the nest. Haystack.
I have actually seen my seramas lay while roosting. They are up on a roost, looking around, I'm in the pen doing something, and then suddenly, *plop* and there's an egg on the ground. Usually it doesn't break because of the straw. It's not at night, it's in the daytime.
A hen lays and egg when her body tells her too and she just has to go with it. That means her reproductive system is produceing the egg to be laid at that time. She has no choice but to lay when her body tells her the egg is ready.I read that a hen will lay a little later everyday so she may soon be able to lay when it's light.
Claire now yours laying in the daytime i don't know i have never seen that. It usally means they either don't know where the nest is or they are afraid to use it. Have you tired placeing her in it when you see her wanting to lay if you haven't try that.
I think young chickens don't always know where to lay--I've had them walk up to me and lay while walking-- admittedly a very odd walk. I've also had them lay from a roost and while walking up the ramp to the coop. I think it just takes them by surprise. They are suppose to be inhibited from laying in the dark--but maybe not all are. The 25 hour egg cycle is suppose to move the laying time forward about an hour each day--so on the day the egg laying would take place after dark, they would theoretically skip a day. But if for some reason they continued to lay--it might regularly take place from the roost and they might habituate to it.
They always find ways to defy the experts.
I will definitely be doing that in the spring. She has stopped laying right now, probably because of day length, and I'm fine with that. She needs a break. When she starts laying again, I hope to have some different nest boxes made and maybe she will like that. The ones I had for the bantams were the buckets on their side and the other banties used them but the seramas won't go in there I guess. I'm doing more wooden ones over the winter. It was funny because she once laid an egg while Kelly was in there and it hit him on the arm as it fell. He said she did that deliberately! LOL!
Okay.. the class clown has to pipe in here.. I'm finding all this really funny. I know it's probably a frustrating thing to deal with, but the stories of chickens laying while they are walking up to you just struck me funny! I have nothing to add as far as advice other than what I've read. Chickens are such a crack up!
Hopefully, Teresa, if the laying cycle does get later and later, you will be able to catch her in the act and help to correct it.
Thank you all for this thread.. it's great information and a smile is a smile, some days it's hard to find.. I appreciate it today for sure.
WOW! I have learned a lot here! 25 hour cycle! So what your saying is they lay after 25 hours goes by? (because it takes that long to form another egg)? So in theory they will lay later and later because of the whole 24 hours a day thing.
I am going to be so ready when my next batch starts to lay!
CMoxon..Does Kelly get hazord pay for collecting now? hehehe
Teresa, let me know what works for future reference. I do like the idea of the "chicken cam" though!
Except, they don't seem to lay at night usually, so I'm not sure how that 25 hour thing works. In fact, I rarely see eggs after about 5 pm. And they usually don't really start until about 7 am. What that means about the 25 hour cycle is unclear to me.
Kelly gets hazard pay for going in the sheep pen with our ram! Eggs on his arm are nothing compared to that! LOL!
What is suppose to happen is that on the day that they should have progressed to lay after dark--they do not lay till the next morning--so you skip a day and they begin the progression all over again. I think it is just a general rule--some hens probably have a slightly different laying interval and some certainly do not lay everyday. I don't know how it relates to the accumulation of a clutch for brooding--although they do say the hatching quality of an egg declines after the 7th day--so maybe in nature when the hen was suppose to skip a day they would actually begin to brood?
I was just joking about the chicken cam - but I bet it would be hilarious and I could probably do a live feed and make millions (ahh....if only I weren't technologically delayed!) :)
We do have golf balls in the nesting boxes, and they seem to prefer one over the others. One gets all the use, another has been used maybe 4 times and the last one only once. ?? Who knows.
The latest news (since coming home from work) is that I think my injured girl (still separated from the others since August!!) may be preparing to lay. When I put her back in her crate tonight, she was standing kind of weird and since she was facing away from me, I could see her rear end kind of heaving in and out - nasty, I know, but may be indicative of an egg laying!! Of course, it's dark, (bulb on though) so this breaks all the rules. I'll keep you all posted - 5:15pm right now.
T
Oh that would be great if she was that well enough to lay now.
How does she seem? What happened to the little girl?
Good Luck! :D
Well, no egg - I guess she was faking me out - it's been 24 hours since I thought she might.
In August - we THINK something grabbed at her through the chicken wire (which has since been reinforced with much smaller wire) - got her head - then when the other ones saw the blood, they went after her. She was a mess. She has been separated ever since, trying to get the feathers on her head to come back in - she is pretty bald. She is petrified of the other girls, so my husband is just finishing the final touches on her own personal coop to be attached to the other one. We sectioned off a part of the run area for her and will attach her coop to that. We've tried to integrate her back with the others to no avail, and I won't put her through any more of it. So, she'll be with them, but safely separated by wire. :(
Thanks for asking :) That's why I was rather excited about her possibly laying!!
Found another egg on the coop floor today. Maybe the chicken cam isn't so silly :)
T.
Poor little girl. She will be fine next to them. Maybe if they see her frequently you will eventually be able to integrate her in the flock later. If they see her a lot they may just accept her later. That would be great. Squatting can be a sign she is getting ready to lay. Dont looses hope. ;)
Boy, that stubern little chicken...I just dont know what to say. Commence operation chicken cam. hehehe! Even if you knew which one was doing it, would you be able to get her off the roost before she lays?