Laying egg not on schedule.Why?

My 2 year old hen laid egg on top of the piano, that is out of her nest cage! She doesn't have a piano in her cage :-0. I was seated on the piano chair facing her and she did this act of laboring like scratching the surface and making the "oohr" sound. Then I had to stand up to answer the knock on my door. I came back after 2-3 minutes there I saw an egg! . I did not expect she was about to lay egg since it was not her schedule yet. I thought she liked my playing :-(Prior to laying the egg, she left her set of eggs on the nest after 10 days only of sitting. Then she laid this egg on the piano after 8 days since she left the eggs on the nest that was seated on for only 10 days. This is the first time she did this after laying set of eggs on a regular cycle for almost 2 years now. I had to take the egg to the nest. I was expecting the 2nd egg two days after but she didn't lay again. I was worried for she might have egg bound though she was acting and eating very normal. I was egg hunting checking all the places in my house thinking she might had laid the 2nd egg again somewhere else but I didn't find anything. I took her to the vet. She's fine. The vet said the 2nd egg should be somewhere in the house or she just developed 1 egg for the cycle. Eight days passed, she laid egg again. I supposed that was her 2nd egg. Guess where she laid the egg this time? ON MY SHOULDER! She perched on my shoulder while I was seating on the chair with wood armrests. She moved very close to my ear and I could hear a couple of tiny farts. Seconds after, I felt something rolled down my side and hit the armrest of the chair and landed to my side. The egg got a crack. So I had to put another dummy egg on the nest. Now she has 2 dummy eggs on the nest which she never sit on. My male pij sits on them on his usual routine. I waited if another egg would be laid but there's none.
What's going on with her?

Hiya, that's very strange, however, I wouldn't be too worried unless she begins to look ill and stressed.

My 3 year old Georgie, who hasn't got a pigeon mate, only me, used to lay two eggs every month for about a year, then she stopped laying eggs for about 6 months and I had no idea why. Then she started laying them again but not every month, and sometimes only 1 egg. Sometimes she nests properly and sits on the eggs, other times she lays them and forgets about them. I don't know the reason why she does this but Georgie is healthy and otherwise acting normally so I'm not worried about the egg laying randomness.

Sorry, I'm not being very helpful here, only stating my limited experience.

Hi Jo,

Two of mine do the same, often losing interest in the eggs just after they laid them, and sometimes there is only one egg in the cycle instead of two. These are two hens that have paired up. The two other couples generally lay 2 eggs and sit on them for the usual amount of time. Like you, I have no idea why the other don't, but in some cases it seems they're not happy with the nest and go off somewhere quite unsuitable to make a new one.

If your hen has more than one nest available, I would say maybe she's showing a preference to you as a mate over her present mate (that would be Banks, wouldn't it?) and she wants to make a nest where YOU are, or where you spend more time.

One of the possibilities that comes to mind is insufficient calcium, but knowing you you'd be keeping an eye on that situation, and your vet would have diagnosed it anyway.

Hi Jo,
I would not be worried about this funny behaviour as long as your hen does not show any symptoms of stress. It oftan can happen that the hens are laying regularly and then suddenly have some pauses or just extend their sitting pauses. Our Emily once sat for 45 days on her dummy eggs - after that she had normal cycles again.

Thanks for all the experiences shared. Yes, the hen is doing fine and normal. She still sits on the eggs but not for long. She would sit for just a few minutes. She looks like not comfortable sitting on the eggs and she keeps on growling. The other situation that changed is my male sits on the eggs overnight. He did it for more than a week now. He sits every now and then during the day when the hen gets off the nest after few minutes. It looks like the male makes sure the eggs gets sit on.

It's really puzzling, it just seems that she's not happy sitting on the eggs for some reason. Perhaps that's not where she would like the nest to be? I'm glad to hear that she's okay.

I love your picture. It's beautiful.

Hi Jo,
as Teresa already said - perhaps yur hen is not happy with the whereabouts of her nest.I woulddo a test next time: offer her some nest material in a basket somewhere in the room - maybe under a chair and see where she wants to build the nest. Maybe you will be able to "understand" then. Perhaps she would like more "secrecy" - offer her a simple cardboard box with several layers of kitchen paper and some nest material and put another one somewhere else - maybe she lets you know what she likes.
That's what I have done with our Pina and Rudi who live inside my studio.

That's so funny and I thought my Birds were into Music. Its quite obvious your bird feels the way I do and wants her baby pigeons to be EMCEs Or Music Producers haha...

She probably thought it was the most relaxing place for a baby to be raised. Right above your music. and its probably the most guarded object in the house. She knows no harm happens in that area. Your momma bird is awesome!

technocactus wrote:

"oohr" sound. Then I had to stand up to answer the knock on my door. I came back after 2-3 minutes there I saw an egg! . I did not expect she was about to lay egg since it was not her schedule yet. I thought she liked my playing