I have known that Cinnamon was getting ready to lay her first egg for a few days. She has been squatting for a while but over the last few days she has been coming up to the patio area, without persuasion, which she has never done before. She has also been much more vocal.
Yesterday afternoon I felt that she wanted to lay her first egg. She just couldn’t work out which was the best and the safest place to lay it. She would go into one nest box then the other nest box. She would go into the chicken shed. She would go to the roof of the little coop nest boxes and chat to me as if she wanted me to help her.
She would have a spin round each nest box and then march into the run at speed. She jumped to the roof of the new chicken shelter and looked up as if she would like to go higher. She went to the shelf of the chicken new shelter and then to the perch.
She went to each corner of the chicken shed then to the bigger girls’ perch and again looked up as if she wanted to go higher.
She went back to the roof of the little coop and seemed to be asking me what to do. I made the decision to put her in the little coop nest box and close it up.
I didn’t want to shut her in the chicken shed where she was going to the highest perch which is not suitable for egg laying. I didn’t want to have her stressing about this any longer. I stayed by her while she scratched and scratched and scratched. I had already put an extra layer of pine shavings in the nest box because, knowing how deep she likes her dust holes, I knew she would want a deep nest for her egg.
I waited until she had stopped scratching and had settled down and then I quietly and gently opened the nest box. I didn’t want to leave her shut in, but just wanted her to settle. When she stayed put I withdrew and returned a short time later.
She was still trying to flick pine shavings on her back but missing it and I could see her egg underneath her.
Cinnamon on top of the new shelter
In one of the nest boxes
In the chicken shed
On the shelf of the new shelter
On the perch of the new shelter
Cinnamon in the nest box
She finally gets her egg laid
Cinnamon’s first egg on the left, Freckles in the middle and Rusty’s on the right
Cinnamon’s egg on the left of the egg stand
It is longer but slimmer than Freckles and Rusty’s round eggs. It is paler shelled like Dandelion’s eggs and so narrow that it drops through the egg stand. It’s a good sized egg for her tiny size though.
That wasn’t half a drama but let’s hope finding the right place to lay the next egg comes easier. Well done Cinnamon!
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Also well done you, for helping her.
You would think they would know what to do but she was getting stressed running here, there and everywhere. When she stood on the top of the coop like she sometimes does in the evening I put her in the nest box but a few minutes later she was back out and running around like a mad thing again. The next time she stood on the coop I decided the best thing for her was to shut her in until she settled. She laid straight after that so she was ready. Sometimes I just have to follow my instincts. I hope that next time she will know that the nest box is a good place to lay an egg.
It’s a good-sized egg for a little girl.:)
I was surprised because I was expecting it to be extra tiny and it isn’t. I should know by now that the size of the girl doesn’t always effect the size of the egg.