Easter Egg Hunt every day

[ezicash]

My girls are 11 months old RIR, and were laying for the last 5-6 months in the coop like clock work. It has been very cold here (midwest) so i have tried heat lamp - didn't work- girls stopped going in the coop when the light was on (temp timer) then i tried a heat pad and the girls stopped laying in that box so i stopped everything and this past few weeks I noticed feathers all over the inside coop so that might explain what is happening now with their egg hiding game. I let them free range when the temp is above 20-25 degrees. I also noticed they have not been laying eggs in the box so i just thought it was the cold weather and no sun. a few days ago I was checking their water and saw 4 eggs in the corner of the run covered in dry leaves - of course cracked frozen so i threw them in the compost. Yesterday found an egg in the middle of the run, today i found 5 eggs between 2 straw bales and only reason i looked was to get my hen out of there! Then this afternoon I saw one of the girls coming out of another corner of hay and so i knelt down and found an egg. Anyone have any clue what is going on?

 

[donrae]

They're powerful creatures of habit. You messed with the status quo and are now paying the price

confine them to the coop and run for a few days, pull the heater pad out of the nest box, basically put things back like they were and just wait it out. Once they start laying in the nest boxes again, you can start letting them out.

 

[ezicash]

Yes I totally agree. I had the heat pad in their nest box for only 2 nights then i took it out. The girls started hiding their eggs a week later. Everything has been back to their natural coop. I will take your advise and keep them in the coop for the next few days and see what happens. None the less, They had laid eggs in their run attached to their coop so keeping them in might not solve this issue but at least i have a smaller place to go Easter egg hunting.