Hippie Chick Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Brunhilde the Bluebelle has only just started laying - she laid her 5th egg this morning. The first egg she laid was as I expected, she sang about it a lot and laid the egg in the nestbox. The second egg started with the singing and nest box routine, after a lot of singing I went out and found her still in the nestbox. After a while and another bout of singing and watching her pop in and out of the coop, I checked on her again and she had laid her egg under the coop. At this point I just thought that she was inexperienced and had been caught by surprise. Since then, she's laid each egg by the side of their feeder. She had her shouty egg song this morning, followed by silence, then another egg song then it seemed as if another hen was shouting as well. I went to check (and shut them up) and found the egg by the side of the feeder and all the other girls circling around it as if hypnotised by it! I picked the egg up and they all had a good look at it and all was quiet - they were seemingly so stunned by the egg's hypnotic powers that I was able to stroke Agnes who normally is the most awkward to catch. Joking aside - is she likely to return to the nest box when she gets the hang of things more or is the pattern set now to lay outside? Will the others learn from her and plonk their eggs outside as well, or are they more likely to follow their instincts and lay 'in the proper place'? And are there any tricks to persuade her to lay inside the nest box? I'm happy to leave her to her own devices, the problem is that I think I may have removed the egg just in time before their curiosity about it involved pecking. I shall try and get to the egg first each time as once they get a taste for eggs it seems that it's a very slippery slope to no eggs for me, but it's not always easy when I'm asleep and they're laying (like this morning!). Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Maybe try putting a ceramic or rubber egg in the nestbox and they will get the idea. i keep one in mine all the time but have a new hen who is just coming into lay and hope she lays in there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I've had my girls for just over a year, and they've all always laid in the Eglu. But since moving house and getting their WIR there've been eggs in all sorts of places. Shelley keeps laying in the run (but I think this is because she keeps getting bullied out of the nest box), Penny is now favouring the cat box full of sand, and on a free ranging day Amy laid under a bush. I don't know if it's because the Eglu got too hot or if they're just making the most of having more choice. So it's not just yours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippie Chick Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 Thanks for the replies! I may try the dummy egg approach if she continues and the others start to show an interest in pecking the eggs she lays. Today I had a little panic during my morning checks, couldn't see her anywhere and found her hunkered down in the nest box. A few minutes later she re-appeared shouting about laying an egg... but when I checked there was no egg to be found, so I think she's just getting used to the whole idea of laying eggs. The others aren't showing any signs of coming into lay yet, but they are getting more friendly by the day and often don't bother getting up when I walk past them. Hopefully over the coming months eggs may become a little more frequent! They're lovely creatures, I'm so glad I decided to get chickens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
