Ester the Easter Egger is hiding her eggs???

[rsf31tmp]

About 5-6 weeks ago, Ester my Easter Egger:

Started showing all the signs of a pullet who was about to lay....she even spent about an hour a day in the nesting box. Last Saturday I found a mint green egg under the corner of the neighbors tool shed. The shed is only 30 feet from my garage and there is about an 8-10 inch gap under the bottom rails. The next day I saw a few more, but they were out of my reach. So I got permission and headed in. Inside I found a mound with about 25 mint green eggs in it. Well, now we cannot find any eggs? Where should we be looking and how can I get her to lay in the nest boxes?

 

[rsf31tmp]

should I keep her locked up for a few days? Or should I seperate her?

 

[janen_33]

That's interesting, one of our Easter Eggers won't lay in the coop or pen either. She waits until we let them out to free range and lays her eggs about 10 feet away from the coop between our house and a huge fern (she dug herself a dirt/rock nest). I'm pretty confident she does this because she got chased out of the coop by one of our older chickens (can't blame her). Do you have older chickens? Maybe they're doing the same thing to Ester.

We just separated the two older chickens from our two 5 month olds and our pheasants and put up a nesting box for the younger 2 chickens....our 1 Easter Egger still likes to lay her eggs outside the pen, but the other is comfortable in the nesting box (not sure how she managed to lay her eggs in the coop before, but I started finding her feathers in the pen, so I think she was really struggling to lay in the coop - NOT COOL).

Anyway, that's my 2 cents! Good luck...I can't believe you found 25 extra eggs ~ that's amazing!

Jane

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
I'd keep her locked in the coop/run for a couple of weeks. I always have to lock the pullets in for a couple of weeks before they all get the idea that those nice nest boxes are there for a reason.

The EE's seem to be particularly stubborn and two of my three went broodyearly and often. One of my EE's started laying in a hidden nest when her chicks were only three weeks old. She kicked the kids to the curb at just after five weeks and didn't come back to the coop that night, when I went looking for her she was sitting on 15 pretty green eggs at the edge of my raspberry patch--I didn't even know she'd started laying again.

 

[Betsy410]

I'm glad you asked this. I have an EE (hootie) who I think is hiding her eggs also. She looks just like Ester! I'll keep them locked up for a few days and see what I find. I'll get lots of dirty looks from the chicks when I don't let them out!

Betsy

 

[Judy]

You could try golf balls (or ping pong balls or anything similar; got any plastic easter eggs?) in the nest boxes, especially since she's collecting eggs; she won't know the difference, or won't care. Along with locking her up, I mean. I hope two weeks won't be necessary. Ever heard of a nest egg? Think golf ball.

MOST chickens do their egg laying in the morning, so you could let her out later on in the day, at least after like 3 or 4 PM.

 

[DAFox]

One of my EE's flies into the Silkie pen and lays her egg in their coop -- even if I wait until 3pm to let her free range.
Good luck on the Easter Egg(er) Hunt,
Dale-Ann

 

[Cheep]

Wow, it's a trend

My EE, Coco is the only one of my flock of 6 who has "not laid yet"(26 wks old tomorrow).

She, too, looks just like the 2 other EEs on this thread (see picture below).
She, too, has been chased very decisively out of the coop, when standing at the door (haha she even flew onto the roof of the coop to hang her head down to watch, so she was out of reach of the "chaser").

I have looked all over my yard, but she could be crafty enough to go thru the fence, so I will have to broaden my search - the things you learn on BYC!

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

When I had easter eggers, they were really good at holding their eggs until they were let out in the afternoon to free range, and then hiding them. Whenever I found their hiding place, they wouldn't use that one again-they would find another one. I love the colored eggs, but have decide they are called Easter Eggers not because of the colors, but because they are the best at hiding them.

 

[Cheep]

FASCINATING - Coco is my favorite. She is the biggest, yet she's still picked on. She is a definite individual, off doing her own thing. Hmmm definitely gonna put on my deerstalker cap, grab my magnifying glass & patrol the area.