Does this mean she's about to lay..?

[Becca]

Hello,

I got my first hens yesterday, 3 ex batts from the rescue from spalding and I'm already so besotted that I popped home from lunch to check on them (took a garden chair into the run with my cuppa and talked to them whilst they pecked at there mash.. am I wierd????) Anyway, whilst i was having tea with the chickens I noticed that there was alot of muscle contraction going on around Rene's rear end and I wondered if this might mean an egg was on it's way out? or is it just part and parcel of digestion etc and I was getting excited about an imminent dropping? :P I watched for a while (definatly wierd I guess ) and neither appeared so I thought I'd ask here..

attached is a pic of my new girls.. Flo in the front, Betty behind her and Rene to the left.. :O) and my sisters thumb in the foreground, no idea why

Becca

[kirsty b]

Probably an imminent dropping!
I got some from the same rescue. Can't upload a thumbnail as my pic size is too big and I'm rubbish at resizing pics. (got pics on blog)
Pretty shy about coming out of the house this morning, but I did put them in earlier than t'other girls so they learn where home is. Seem ok so far though.

[yoanbob]

congrats on your new best friends, not wierd at all for sitting in the coop, its really good stress releif, I dont think you have a problem, proberbly just sticky poo, when you have watched them for a few weeks you will get to know whats going on with them.
good luck

[Becca]

don;t think it was an egg as nothing new in the coop when I got home.. so i probably just spent 5 mins watching a chicken trying to poo Just eaten my first egg (collected still warm this morning after breakfast) on top of a potato and onion rosti, was lovely.. just realised that in the not too distant future Ill be able to make that with entirely home grown (or laid) ingredients, which will be even better

[Gazza]

My girls took a couple of weeks to start laying after bringing them home. I was told it was the shock of the journey and all the changes for them - now its one lovely warm, brown egg and one lovely warm, white egg each morning - superb!!

Seems Betty is a popular name for the chooks. My two are Betty and Meg

[Becca]

mine are named after my 2 grandma's and my favourate great aunt.. Old lady names seem to fit somehow, tho my mum's not sure how her mum would have felt about the honour :P but the seem better (or at least more flattering) than my sister's suggestions, Skanky, Manky and Scruffbag, which already fit less well than they did yesterday when I brought them home.. This egg must have been brewing in the battery farm so I suspect I'll get the last 'battery' eggs then they'll probably stop for a little while as the new situation is bound to be a bit of a change..

[kirsty b]

Had to laugh this morning. Steve went down to let the girls out as I was working and wrote 'new chooks' on the egg that one of the new girls had laid, and nothing on one laid by the current flock that I got in Oct.
'Lets do the egg test' says I, cracked the batt egg into a bowl, lovely thick white and a really deep yellow/orange yolk. The egg from my Oct bird was quite a bit paler, but the white was high and thick though.
I was a bit gobsmacked, cos I really expected it to be t'other way round!!
What the hell, it was still lovely fresh eggs.

[Becca]

yes, my egg yesterday had a deep orange yolk which kind of surprised me, got 2 eggs this morning including this one which is definatly odd, any ideas?

[kirsty b]

Could be stress that has had an effect on the colour of the shell. The girls had a busy day on Tues, and lots of travelling and being handled. I get one thats odd coloured occasionally if they are off colour or if they have had a fright.

[Sunbeam]

I also got mine from the same rescue - I'm getting approx 5-6 eggs a day which is fantastic, but haven't eaten any yet as I need to get through the last lot I bought from the lady across the road

[welsh veg grower]

Think thats stress that has caused her to lay an egg before putting a proper shell over it. The whole process is complecated so its not surprising they sometimes getit wrong if something has bothered them. It has happened to the ocassional one for me in the past after the jet planes fly to low or if the dog chases them.

The dog is now scared of the chooks mind you.

You could put a bit of tonic in the water for them and make sure they have some oyter shell to pick on.

Enjoy the chooks

[Becca]

It seems to have sorted it self out :O) I had a spotty egg the next day but since then, 3 perfect brown eggs every day :O) Tho, I've got the same problem as Sunbeam, as, due to only finding out i was getting them 4 days before I did I'd just bought a dozen eggs (6 duck and 6 hen) the day before I found out, haven't been able to resist eating a few of mine tho, but will need to finish of the rest of the BC (before chickens) batch soon or they'll be wasted..