Chickens not laying at home....?

[emshens]

I have 9 chickens and have taken them off grain for about 3 weeks. It's summer and there are a lot of apricots and good grass and alfalfa combination they feed on.

when we let them free range again for the summer and took them off grain the egg production started to go way down. We used to collect between 3 and 6 a day and now we are lucky if we collect one from their hutch.

I have reason to believe they are nesting and laying elsewhere, Even though they all come back in the evening to roost in their coop. I found 2 of our golden sexlinks this morning under a boat at my neighbors house making all sorts of noise and found she was laying 2 eggs! And then an hour later I found another laying another 2 in the same spot!

Why aren't they laying in their home?

I'm not sure if there is a predator in the area, or if the hutch/coop is a bad design, or if it's because we have stopped feeding them during the apricot season. they all seem healthy and are happily cleaning under all the trees and get dinner scraps regularly each day in their coop.

Anyone have any ideas on what i can do to find a solution or where to even start?


Thank you!

 

[chickenchick123]

I have a similar problem, on occasion I will have to play "hunt the eggs!" Around the garden! Where all the hens will lay else where for a few days. A favourite spot is behind the compost heap or under the trampoline of all places! I have had to keep them inclosed in their run for a few hours in the morning so they remember where to lay for a couple of days before letting them out for free ranging. It does the trick for me. Sometimes the problem will be someone is already in the favourite nesting box so after some clucking at each other one hen will head off to the trampoline!
My chickens hardly touch their feeder, too busy free ranging. They only really eat it when when I've had to keep them in the run or in very bad weather. So I doubt your problem is due to their diet.
Have you tried keeping them in a run or close by the coop if they only free range? I'm lucky to be able to let them free range or stay in a run if needs must.
hope you find a good solution soon.

 

[emshens]

Oh thank you for messaging me

I was thinking about keeping them locked in their coop for morning hours because they're usually done laying by noon. so i will try this tonight and see how it goes in the morning.

We live in the country and we and the neighbors have anywhere between 1 and 3 acre lots. Luckily one neighbor is a relative of mine so they don't mind the chickens going in their yard because they do such a good job cleaning the apricots off the floor.

But because the run is at the bottom of our pasture, which is outlined by a neighborhood cross road, they are then very close to 3 of our other neighbors and we have had a few complaints. :/ They even sometimes make it beyond my relatives house and over the road (not a busy road) completely out of site from the coop. i thought they stayed within sight of their coop? So we're going to experiment with this as well and move the coop further into the pasture closer to the house. We have a 2 acre pasture and they don't go in it at all. every morning they're Immediately into the neighbors yard and in my relatives yard eating apricots.

Would the design of the coop be any effect do you think?