Will a chicken sing the egg song without laying an egg?

[Meg Gerstenfeld]

I have 7 pullets that I am anxiously awaiting for them to come into lay. (Almost 20 weeks old) Three look like they're really ready. The other 4 are not quite there. Anyway, about 5 minutes ago I heard it from inside the house, the perfect egg song! And so of course, I ran outside like a complete bozo and started frantically searching for my first $1000 egg. All the chickens are in a run, so it's not like there are very many places it could be. Anyway, no egg.

Do chickens sing the egg song without laying an egg? Do pullets practice their egg song prior to laying? Did I interrupt a chicken about to lay her first egg?

 

[No Coop No Problem]

They sing before laying occasionally. Sometimes they also do the egg song as a response to stress. The actual biological function of the "egg song" is to summon a rooster for protection. The rooster escorts them to and from the egg laying site

 

[Meg Gerstenfeld]

Thanks so much for the information! I had heard that the egg song was to summon other chickens to lay in the same spot to rapidly build a clutch of eggs. I didn't realize they were calling for a rooster.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Thanks so much for the information! I had heard that the egg song was to summon other chickens to lay in the same spot to rapidly build a clutch of eggs. I didn't realize they were calling for a rooster.

There was a user here with several different populations of chickens in a very large area that did an excellent experiment on the subject. I think it may have been Shadrach. The egg song always stops when a rooster arrives to escort the hen

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens can sing a song much like the egg song for other reasons. I've heard it when they were concerned, maybe thinking a predator was threatening them or something else was stressing them. It is hard for me to tell the difference. Sometimes when they do this it is several of them singing it, not just one. But sometimes just one.

Not all of mine sing the song when they lay an egg. Probably less than half.

There are different theories as to what the egg song means. My favorite is that the flock can move around while the hen is on the nest so when she comes off she sings the egg song to find them. Some (not all but some) of my roosters have left the flock and gone to the hen. Since she just laid an egg she is obviously laying so she needs her eggs fertilized. He typically mates her and then leads her back to the rest of the flock.

Not all of my roosters will go get a hen that sings that song. But when they do the hen gets to rejoin the flock and her eggs are fertilized. A win-win for the survival of the flock.

But yes I've heard that song when it had nothing to do with an egg. It could be a hen saying "where are you?" Or maybe one gets nervous.

 

[KimbosKluckers]

$1000 egg. So funny So far I have 3 laying gals, 2 do a light and short song. One of my barred rocks likes to make a grand show about it for an hour before she actually lays the egg.

 

[No Coop No Problem]

Not all of my roosters will go get a hen that sings that song. But when they do the hen gets to rejoin the flock and her eggs are fertilized. A win-win for the survival of the flock.

There's a hierarchy of roosters, and each has his favorite hens. There's also widely ranging genetics between chicken breeds. I would imagine that breeds that don't go broody (and are thus incapable of reproduction) probably also don't respond properly to the egg song. Domesticated chickens may even sing incorrectly, given that they're broken from an evolutionary perspective

 

[gtaus]

I love reading about all the reasons hens sing an egg song. I read somewhere that the egg song is to alert the flock that the hen is soon to rejoin the other girls out in the run. Since I don't have any rooster in my backyard flock, I don't know if a rooster reacts to an egg song for escorting, or reproduction, etc...

 

[SamLockwood]

I love reading about all the reasons hens sing an egg song. I read somewhere that the egg song is to alert the flock that the hen is soon to rejoin the other girls out in the run. Since I don't have any rooster in my backyard flock, I don't know if a rooster reacts to an egg song for escorting, or reproduction, etc...

It's really not so much an egg song as an escort call. I've also had hens make that sound when they're agitated, and mine often argue over nesting boxes with that racket.

Roosters make a similar sound as either a warning or in response to a hen's escort call. With 18 hens and 4 roosters it can sometimes be quite a racket when somebody decides to argue over a nesting box.

 

[morgirl]

I have 7 pullets that I am anxiously awaiting for them to come into lay. (Almost 20 weeks old) Three look like they're really ready. The other 4 are not quite there. Anyway, about 5 minutes ago I heard it from inside the house, the perfect egg song! And so of course, I ran outside like a complete bozo and started frantically searching for my first $1000 egg. All the chickens are in a run, so it's not like there are very many places it could be. Anyway, no egg.

Do chickens sing the egg song without laying an egg? Do pullets practice their egg song prior to laying? Did I interrupt a chicken about to lay her first egg?

I started my flock over this year.....it is time they begin laying..... I heard the egg song the other day, ran outside, texted my partner we have our first egg. BUT there was no egg. false alarm. so I'll just wait I guess and I don't really know why they were singing.