Well, my 3 GLW's have been laying for a couple of months and I do get an egg a day, sometimes 2, never 3. My BR is not laying yet, too young I guess and my EE (8 months) enjoys her career as a freeloader. Since it's cold here and the days are short, I have not questioned the one a day egg routine recently. I am checking every nestbox and the thick layer of bedding though just in case Pearl, the EE decides to lay outside a nestbox. Well, yesterday I noticed a bunch of woodshavings on a piece of plywood about 4x3.5 feet that I used as a "false ceiling" section. The chickens roost on a 2x4 about 18 inches in front of it and I use half off the added space to keep a bag of shavings. The bag was opened a bit already but the chickens apparently pecked at it quite a bit. So up the stepstool I go to clean up and - surprise - I find a nest with 7 perfect eggs..... I should have thought about it, after all, the girls are all over everything.... Oh well, the dogs were happy to get a dish full of scrambled eggs and I now know where to check....Come spring that section of plywood will go out anyway, hve to think how to 'retrain' the culprit though....
I had a very similar experience. My husband who is obsessed with these chickens paying their way, found a nest with about a dozen eggs in behind the hog feeder that isn't even in the pen with them and behind another wall, but there was just enough space for a skinny chicken to squeeze through the hole in the wall and get behind the hog feeder. She was having a great time laying her eggs in secret. We would never have found it except, one day he saw her head peeking out from the hole and went around to the other wall and moved the feeder and Voila!! Eggs. He was beside himself. We also had to feed ours to the dogs and cats.
I just found a dozen eggs in the eaves of the coop. I noticed one of our leghorns sitting up there yesterday. We haven't been able to find her eggs for several days. Well, there they were. All frozen except for one. She had been laying them in an old tractor tire until she found this great new hiding spot.
I am wondering if maybe some of my girls don't have a secret laying spot. Haven't found it yet - but I am guessing there is one someplace. As long as I know where to look I don't mind them laying out of the nest boxes. So long as they are happy and healthy, that is my main concern. These are funny stories though - I love hearing about them!!!
We had a RIR hen to lay and set in our old smokehouse on a shelf, well hidden, that was about 6ft. high. and hatched out 6 baby chicks . we did not know she was broody until we heard her clucking on the floor of the house with 2 chicks. We had to look and find the nest and found 4 more just hatched chicks that she had left up there.
I'm so glad you did this thread. I've been getting about 3 to 4 eggs a day from my RIR girls. Maybe they are hiding them I'm going looking tomorrow. Thanks.
