Eggs buried in garden?

[lilnuggets]

My hens have recently started free ranging full time (dogs finally go used to them and now don't try to eat them yay!) I have 1 hen who likes to lay under my tomatoe plant . She doesn't bother the plant (or eat it) but I found she is starting to lay there instead of her nesting box. I figured at first she just like the cool soil I live in AZ so it's still hot. I found an egg under the pant yesterday and just found another one today but this was was almost fully buried. Do hens burry eggs when they are trying to start a clutch? Or was this maybe just a fluke that this one was buried? This is the first time I've had one repeatedly lay in another spot other than their nesting box. She is a about 1.5 year old black sex link.

 

[Goldenrod1210]

Free range chickens will often hide their eggs out of habit. Your hen may think she needs to hide her eggs from predators, so that's why she may be laying outside of the nesting box. My hens used to lay their eggs in the flower garden, but it was all of them, not just one. Maybe you could try to keep her locked in the coop until she lays her egg, then she'll get used to laying in there.