Best place to look for free range eggs?

[Vince]

My birds range from dusk till dawn. They are about 16 weeks and wont go near a 5 hole nest box I built. The temporary coop they sleep in is quite small so they wont be doing any laying there.

So I was wondering where they might feel the urge to lay some eggs. They have several holes burrowed out in a large ash pit from my fireplace. This is where they hang out every day at certain times. It's in the shade on the edge of some woods. Other than that I'm not sure where else to look.

Until I get the large coop finished I think it's going to be like an easter egg hunt.

 

[Uppity Peon]

They could lay an egg absolutely anywhere, but I would look under bushes and in tall grass, or any place quiet and secluded.

 

[ranchhand]

The holes they make are probably for dust bathing, they love them. Sometimes they'll all get in and it looks like a pile of dead chickens!

They are of an age to start laying, depending upon breed, so you might want to strategically place some boxes of straw or chips around- otherwise they will find secluded places under bushes, in a tangle of vines, tall grass.
As Peon said, someplace quiet and secluded.

Can you put up some temporary fencing, to keep them close to the nest boxes?

 

[CMV]

Watch where they tend to hang out. Usually brushy areas with tall grass and any areas with an overhang. I have a hen that insists on laying in a little depression under a tree whose trunk has a bend to the bottom. It took me forever to figure out where she was laying because the depression is basically hidden from view from above. I had to crawl around on the ground to find it. Silly chicken!

 

[basicliving]

I agree to look anywhere they can find a quiet, secluded place. Mine NEVER hide theirs in plain view. It always takes me a while to discover them - and they are usually somewhere I've looked a hundred times, but just not at the right angle. What's really annoying is that they will WATCH me search for their nests and I've heard them snickering when I don't find them. Sneaky little things.

 

[SallyF]

Mine used the tree line at the edge of the field. I found a nest of five eggs cuddled into a patch of poison ivy!

 

[CMV]

Quote:

 

[MIKE555444]

I remember as a teenager I had a hen that made a nest under the edge of a washed out creek bank LOL If I remember correctly it was near a old stump where the roots made a cradle for her nest...

 

[hikerchick]

My ducks were laying in the corner by the edge of the deck. Very convenient for the snake that was living under my deck.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts if they are laying yet at 16 weeks. I have golf balls in my nest boxes and my birds free range.