Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I have an adult Cochin laying eggs either through the night or early morning. I find them on the floor of the coop under their perch-sometimes broken. I THINK its the same hen that is also laying some in the box but not positive. This has happened occasionally before but is increasing in the past few weeks. I've found 3 in the past week. Any idea why this would be happening?

Is there something going on in her relationship with any of the other members of the flock, a change in the pecking order or some sort of other change to their regular routine?
I have a hen that goes through phases where she lays in random spots out in the run or on the floor of the coop. I think that sometimes it's because there has been a change in inter-hen relationships (she is often quarrelsome with others, trying to gain status), other times I think she is just too busy or interested in whatever she's doing to be bothered to go into a nesting box to lay. Where is your hen in the pecking order?
Scratch that - I just re-read your post, and I realize that I wasn't focusing on the telling part: she's laying early in the morning. It sounds like her egg cycle is between 24-26 hours and at the moment the time of lay is happening when she's not fully awake, not alert enough to get up and lay in a nest box. Perhaps because it's still too dark for her to see enough to move off the roost. Do you have supplemental light that you can turn on a bit earlier in the morning until her cycle shifts to more daylight hours again? Just a thought.

If anything I'd say she seems to get along better with everyone than she used to. She's somewhere in the middle of pecking order. She's the one that hatched Stella the lone chick and the only of the 3 Cochin hens currently laying (I think). She has always made a big deal when it comes to laying an egg. She squaks and complains for an hour before she goes in the nesting box. Bit of a drama queen. I'm getting tired of picking her egg out of the pile of it lands in

Oops just read the bottom of you reply lol. No supplemental lighting and I don't really want to do that to the rest of them just to please her. Ive got a few in molt and want the rest to get it started and over with and I think lighting could delay that. Everyone else manages to hold it lol

It may just be that with moults coming on or finishing up if she moulted while broody, her cycle is a bit wonky. Sometimes my turkey girls do this at those times.

I hear you about picking eggs out of . Not fun. I have a hen that used to occasionally lay on the board in the early morning hours. She's a BSL and I think her cycle was less than 24 hours, which is why she'd sometimes not be awake enough. She's finally only laying intermittently, and I'm glad she's in semi-retirement, because she's had issues with shell quality for awhile now. She's 7 years old and has been laying 6-7 eggs a week since I got her, even 3-4 during the winter months (up until last season).

I don't do much supplemental light either. However, when the daylight hours get too short, I have the light in the coop on a timer mostly for my convenience because I leave early for work. Lights go on at 6:25 am, off at daybreak, then on again at dusk, just long enough for them to find their way into the coop easily and settle in for the night. Also because I do like to be able to spend a little time with them and bring treats when I get home.

Thanks ladies. KB she did molt while broody and the other two Cochins are just finishing up their molt now. She's out there now making a big deal about needing to lay an egg. You know that woman that is pregnant and acts like the first woman to EVER carry a child...we all know one lol. That's what this hen reminds me of! She gets the rooster into quite a tizzy. Poor fella runs around trying to figure out what's wrong and what she needs. I guess I'll just hope she takes a break soon and resets herself.

Lower perch , height is not an asset , until she sorts it out or thicker bedding under perch . Just nature of the beast . Luck

Jaye- a 7 year old hen that lays 6 eggs per week? You have some magic genes there, you should get offspring from her!

And/or your feed, activity, stress regimen is perfect!

:D , @baronrenfrew . No, actually she's a 7 year old hen who laid 6-7 eggs a week up until last year, when she slowed down to 4-5 and then quit for the winter (first time), and this year has been laying much less and sporadically. In fact, she's pretty much stopped over the past month.
I wish I could find a way to get offspring from her, but (a) I don't have a rooster, and (b) her eggshells have been very thin for quite a while now, so I doubt I'd be able to successfully incubate them.
I'd also love to find a way to get offspring from my Silkie, who is going on 8 years old, and is still one of my best layers: she averages 5 a week in the spring, summer and fall, and 2-3 in winter, except when she's broody or raising chicks - and last winter when she stopped laying for a couple of months.
Know anyone with "poultry AI" experience? :wink: .