Did my broody hen kill flock production?

[josettelynne10]

I have four hens... 2 Australorps and 2 Ameraucanas. All are just over a year old and have shared the same nesting box since we got them. We typically get three eggs a day from them.
About two weeks ago, one of my Australorps went broody. I didn’t notice for the first couple days as I would check for eggs at the same time and figured it was her normal time to lay, but we began to only find her eggs in the box so I started checking at different times and realized she made it her home. We have since broken her from it, but I haven’t found a single egg from the other three hens since this started. I looked all over our tiny yard and they are NO WHERE to be found. We de-wormed them thinking they might have parasites, but have still found nothing.

Could they have stopped production because they haven’t had access to the nesting box?

 

[50-45-1]

ThaT may be, but also possible they started eating them...

 

[josettelynne10]

No evidence of them eating them. I’ve kept an eye on them throughout the day and there are no remains of any eggs in our yard.

 

[bobbi-j]

When you have a chance, let them out later in the day. When you do, watch to see if they go sprinting off somewhere. Follow them at a distance to see where they go. They may have a hidden nest.

 

[josettelynne10]

When you have a chance, let them out later in the day. When you do, watch to see if they go sprinting off somewhere. Follow them at a distance to see where they go. They may have a hidden nest.

I will do that! We have a pretty small fenced in area for them and their wings are clipped so they can’t fly over, haven’t found one yet, but I’ll keep an eye on them when I let them out. Thanks for the idea!

 

[Perris]

hello @josettelynne10 ! welcome to BYC
it might be a good idea to organise a second nesting box

 

[aart]

When you have a chance, let them out later in the day. When you do, watch to see if they go sprinting off somewhere. Follow them at a distance to see where they go. They may have a hidden nest.

This^^^......and this

it might be a good idea to organise a second nesting box