Hey Guys,
New to this forum but love all that I've read so far. My issue is: I'll start by saying I have a small business on 1 acre of land and I also raise my hens there. I have a hen that would keep disappearing and I could tell by my egg count that one or 2 of the hens were laying elsewhere. They free range and so I sometimes find an egg here and there on the ground. Anyway, I noticed that one of my hens would disappear for long periods of time and yesterday I confirmed that she wasn't going into the coop to roost with the rest of them. I figured, no big deal, she's going to hatch some chicks. I'll just let her be. Well today a couple of my guys were mowing our lawn in an area with thick brush and found a clutch of eggs. Not knowing any better, they collected them and put them in the fridge and kept mowing. I've since put them back (they were only in the fridge for about 20 minutes so were barely cool) but now the hole she dug is exposed. At this point, would it be better to toss the eggs, isolate her and allow her to lay new eggs in a more controllable area? Should I worry that the new eggs won't be fertile if I keep her away from the rooster? Should I let the rooster in with her until she collects a new clutch? I feel bad because she looks so lost and is wandering around the area as if she's trying to figure out what to do with her eggs that are now fully exposed. Might she have another clutch under our house? She keeps going under there as well? I know it's alot but have only had chickens for a few months so this is all new to me.
New to this forum but love all that I've read so far. My issue is: I'll start by saying I have a small business on 1 acre of land and I also raise my hens there. I have a hen that would keep disappearing and I could tell by my egg count that one or 2 of the hens were laying elsewhere. They free range and so I sometimes find an egg here and there on the ground. Anyway, I noticed that one of my hens would disappear for long periods of time and yesterday I confirmed that she wasn't going into the coop to roost with the rest of them. I figured, no big deal, she's going to hatch some chicks. I'll just let her be. Well today a couple of my guys were mowing our lawn in an area with thick brush and found a clutch of eggs. Not knowing any better, they collected them and put them in the fridge and kept mowing. I've since put them back (they were only in the fridge for about 20 minutes so were barely cool) but now the hole she dug is exposed. At this point, would it be better to toss the eggs, isolate her and allow her to lay new eggs in a more controllable area? Should I worry that the new eggs won't be fertile if I keep her away from the rooster? Should I let the rooster in with her until she collects a new clutch? I feel bad because she looks so lost and is wandering around the area as if she's trying to figure out what to do with her eggs that are now fully exposed. Might she have another clutch under our house? She keeps going under there as well? I know it's alot but have only had chickens for a few months so this is all new to me.
