We have four hens who are all laying eggs. Our coop has two nesting boxes and most of the time our girls lay in one of the nesting boxes. Today I went out to the coop and there was an egg in the run. This has never happened, all of of our hens have laid in the boxes since they started laying. I was hoping someone might have some idea why one of the Hens would lay in the run. When it was laid all of the hens were in the run and not in the nesting boxes. Since we have found eggs in each box I assume they would use either one.
this could just be a fluke, and might not happen again ever. I can't say what your hen was thinking, just watch to see if it happens again.
When I was a kid, I would visit my aunt in the summers and she raised chickens. My job was to collect the eggs. One day, I found an egg that had been laid in between the metal rungs of the fence. There was no way for me to get the egg without breaking it. In all the summers that I visited my aunt, that was the only egg that I found in the run. My chickens have only been laying for a couple of months and early on I found an egg in the run. I think RobertH is right: when you gotta go, you gotta go.
