For the last week or so, Timbitts has been acting curiously like a laying hen. Which is odd considering that she is A) in a molt and molting chickens generally go off laying for a bit and B) she's never laid an egg in her life and considering she's almost a year old I wasn't thinking she would. Be that as it may, I have found her in a nesting box several times lately. I kind of thought she was just staying quiet and wanting to be away from everyone else as she molts. (Chickens seem to get a little self-conscious when they molt, I guess it's their equivalent to me having a bad hair day.) But I thought I'd keep a closer eye or her just in case something was up. Sure enough, something was.
Yesterday, I was in the coop and noticed Timbitts scurry into an empty nest box. I puttered around for a while and then left after checking under her. No egg. About an hour later I headed out again. She was still sitting in the nest box. So I checked under her and lo and behold, I found a little egg. She then started the typical "LOOK, LOOK, WHAT I DID, I LAID AN EGG!!!" clucking. A few chickens congratulated her and she decided all that effort had made her hungry and headed for a food dish. The egg is considerably smaller than the norm but that's not unusual for a hen just starting to lay eggs so all the evidence points to her being the owner of this egg. That's her egg on the right.Good for you, little hen, good for you.
2 comments:
Thanks so much for your helpful comment on broody chickens! I hope we have the same good success as you! The building we use for our chickens has some extra room (the hens are in only a third of the building. I think it will be easy to make a little corner for this hen and see what she does! Thanks for your help!
Gina
I'm glad that I could help in some wee way. It sounds like you and she will do just fine.
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