Successful 100% forage diet experiment (long post)

[TheOddOneOut]

I'm telling you, they're great egg hiders. I've always thought having a kid go on an egg hunt would be the only realistic way to find them. Childhood wonder and what not.

One time I employed my younger brother to do this.
He found her.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

You should with a bit of patience be able to locate the hens nests from the escort call they give. Often you'll miss the going to the nest call but even so, if you see a hen and a rooster seperate from the group it's pretty likely she's going to lay an egg. If you're quick, when you hear the hen calling, you can either follow the rosster that answers her call, or get a rough idea of the area her nest is in from where she's calling from. Many hens will move away from the nest before they make the call to make it more difficult for predators to locate the nest. But, here at least they don't move much more that a few metres away before calling.
This explains a bit about it. I find most of the hens outside nests this way.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-egg-song-it’s-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/

You may laso find that the broodiness bred out of hens opinion doesn't get born out in reality. What I and others have found that given the right conditions even notorisusly non broody hens will sit and hatch. With some it takes some time to unsuppress the instinct.

In all the years I've kept chickens, I did not know about the escort call. How interesting! I will try and spot this behavior tomorrow!

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Have you tried putting fake eggs in a nest when you take the real ones?
That might keep them using the same spot, instead of starting a different one.
It worked with the hens I had as a child, and saved me a lot of time hunting for nests. (Of course yours might behave differently than the ones I had.)

I did try this with the nest boxes they have at their brooder house. They've seen the eggs, but no luck.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

You should with a bit of patience be able to locate the hens nests from the escort call they give. Often you'll miss the going to the nest call but even so, if you see a hen and a rooster seperate from the group it's pretty likely she's going to lay an egg.

Thinking about this further, a hen and roo came out of the brush today while I was out looking for eggs and I snapped a pic. No others came out of hiding at the same time, so maybe this was what you are talking about. Hmm.

 

[NatJ]

I did try this with the nest boxes they have at their brooder house. They've seen the eggs, but no luck.

Specifically, I think it worked when I found a hidden stash of eggs, and I took the real eggs while leaving some fake ones in their place. So the hens didn't realize the eggs were being swiped, and they kept laying in that same hidden nest that they were already using. But because I knew where that nest was, I could get the new eggs each day without having to hunt all over for yet another nest.

 

[ackie]

You should with a bit of patience be able to locate the hens nests from the escort call they give. Often you'll miss the going to the nest call but even so, if you see a hen and a rooster seperate from the group it's pretty likely she's going to lay an egg. If you're quick, when you hear the hen calling, you can either follow the rosster that answers her call, or get a rough idea of the area her nest is in from where she's calling from. Many hens will move away from the nest before they make the call to make it more difficult for predators to locate the nest. But, here at least they don't move much more that a few metres away before calling.
This explains a bit about it. I find most of the hens outside nests this way.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-egg-song-it’s-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/

You may laso find that the broodiness bred out of hens opinion doesn't get born out in reality. What I and others have found that given the right conditions even notorisusly non broody hens will sit and hatch. With some it takes some time to unsuppress the instinct.

this is brilliant and I plan to try it to find where my girls are laying. and thank you for the link

 

[Birdie mom]

I think she plans to try with a new hatch, not her existing flock.

yes, I meant to say that.

 

[Perris]

Nor could you keep a cow in your back yard without supplemental feed. That doesn't negate the notion that livestock can be self-sufficient.

Absolutely! they've been experimenting successfully with that for years at the Knepp estate with heritage cattle and pigs
https://www.kneppestate.co.uk/wild-range-meat

Have you tried putting fake eggs in a nest when you take the real ones?
That might keep them using the same spot, instead of starting a different one.

This worked for most of the summer for me with Janeka, my hen who insists on laying away. I only put the fake eggs in when she's chosen a relatively accessible (to me) site, to keep her there as long as possible. Sooner or later she twigs on and moves to a new nest site, but it makes finding them an occasional rather than a daily chore. If the new nest is deep in the undergrowth or surrounded by brambles I take all the eggs and don't replace with fakes, to encourage her to lay elsewhere!

a hen and roo came out of the brush today while I was out looking for eggs and I snapped a pic. No others came out of hiding at the same time

This is a dead giveaway. For me it is the best method for honing in on the secret nest location, since Janeka does what Shad describes - she moves some distance from the nest before calling for an escort to reunite with the flock. A slightly less reliable method is to look for a roo on his own - with multiple roos there's competition and opportunity for more than one to mate, and they like to mate right after a hen's laid, so sometimes a hopeful roo is hanging around nearby while she's laying.

 

[PioneerChicks]

@AccidentalFarm I love your style! In a couple years I'll be moving to a less populated place where I plan to try this. Currently I feed my chickens fermented feed in the late-afternoon to evening so they forage throughout the day.

I'm really impressed with what you are doing. Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

 

[PioneerChicks]

I'm curious, do your wild roosters respect you? Also, how many roosters do you have out there?