Can't find the eggs!

[PeachygirlGA]

This has probably been asked before, but how do you stop a hen from laying somewhere other than the nesting boxes?? I have one hen that we thought wasn't laying until we found a pile of 16 eggs in the woods!!! Covered that spot up with some wood but now we can't find where she might be laying. The thing is, they only free range about 2 hours each day, sometimes longer on the weekends when we are home. We have tried following her around but just can't find them. Is the only way to stop her to not let her out for a while? Frustrating!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Try things to make the nest more attractive AND keep her locked up a couple days till she develops the nest habit.

 

[my sunwolf]

You could try locking them in the coop for a few days in order to get her to lay in the boxes. Do you have any golf balls or fake eggs in the nests? Sometimes these can encourage hens to lay in the proper places.

Maybe too late, but another thing to do is when you find the secret nest in the woods, you could put up a shelter around it and replace the real eggs with golf balls or fake eggs. That way, she knows it's a safe place. If you take her eggs, she thinks a predator's found the nest and won't lay there again, will even find a more secretive place to lay.

At this point, I'd do the golf balls in the coop and not letting them range for a while.

 

[DigitalEd]

...

At this point, I'd do the golf balls in the coop and not letting them range for a while.

x2. The golf ball trick worked for mine.