[marianwhittock]

hi, after a very patient 3 weeks my new chickens have started laying.  I have three ladies and had 2 eggs this morning.

Neither had laid in the nest boxes, both were on the floor in the coop and broken - one had quite a soft shell the other one was very small.

Is this normal? 

[joyfull]

yes, put a pot egg or even a golf ball in the nest box just to give them the idea of where to lay 

[marianwhittock]

thanks.  I had bought a couple of pretend eggs but hadn't put them in the boxes!  not much use in the cupboard were they?!  hopefully they will learn.

Thanks again

[Squibbs]

I think when chickens first start to lay the egg comes as a bit of a surprise and just comes out in random places - then they go find somewhere they feel comfortable laying their eggs.
Maybe its a bit like children potty training!

If there are older hens about they seem to use the same places they do. The rubber pretend eggs help quite a bit but the first eggs I bought were plaster eggs with a hole in the end - I would avoid these as they seemed to be a harbour for mites and bugs.

[jackie]

when mine started laying one was laying in the run but they soon get used to laying in the nest box. when they first start laying the eggs are really small but they get bigger the more they lay. i have lovely large eggs every morning now. if the shell is soft make sure they are having oyster shell

[marianwhittock]

obviously the effort of producing eggs yesterday was too much - nothing this morning. :happy:

not worried, they are very busy out in their run at the moment. 

they do get through a lot of oyster shell, they have a pot of it.

thanks for your advice and help

[carolbriar]

Congratulations on your first eggs.  One of my hens laid in the run on the first few occasions that she laid and then followed the others and laid in the nest boxes.  Mine laid at different times of the day so you could still get an egg later!

[marianwhittock]

how right you were Carol.  A perfect egg arrived this afternoon - in the nest box and unspoilt.  It has pride of place in the kitchen - I just need to decide how to eat it!

[Henlady]

One of my ladies has just started laying and I feel very mean eating the eggs.  I have had 5 so far all different sizes.  Hopefully the other 3 will start soon.

[Chookiechook]

My Lavender Pekin managed to lay her very first egg at the top of the ramp to the nestbox    Made a nice mess at the bottom

All the other eggs (one every other day) have been up in the box and unspoiled

Must be an urgency thing

[marianwhittock]

tonight we found another one in the corner of the run, soft shell and all squashed.  I kindly made my 13 year old crawl in under the coop and get it - I am kind like that

[amckeen]

We had our first couple in the nest boxes on Tuesday morning but yesterday I was standing in the run and one of the Bluebelles just walked in front of me, popped an egg out and then kept walking.  There was absolutely no fuss or anything (it was pretty small, though tasty as I have just eaten it in my sandwich) but it means we will have to keep an eye on the run now.

Think I will get some dummy eggs to put in the nest boxes.

[Henlady]

As far as I can tell only one of my 4 ladies is laying but I plan to spend this long weekend spying on them and give the garden a good search in case one of them is laying elsewhere.  They are 21 weeks old this weekend and I have had them for 6 weeks. 

I have a light sussex, black sussex, a bluebell and a speckledy, it is the speckledy who is the boss and is laying in the coop.

[marianwhittock]

in 3 days I have now had 5 eggs but only one has had a shell on it so far  :blink: