Found a stash

[tom e]

Ideally I'd like to have her lay in the eggbox. But this one's a maverick. I think I'll try an egg, but just write on it. We have eleven hens now, so I probably won't miss one egg.
Maybe we need more boxes? I have two, but the girls all line up for one! And complain whenever someone is in there.

 

[farmerChef]

Sometimes hens will lay in the same spot because they think, 'hey somebody has laid here, it must be a good spot!' if you have a few eggs/golfballs in each nest, they might start using more of them, because there are other eggs in there.

It also helps 'show' them where to lay

 

[TeamChaos]

I came here to post the same thing- I found a stash! 17 eggs in a pocket of the coop I thought was filled with bedding. I only found them because I saw a hen slip back there.... I floated my eggs and all but one were good. Thank goodness they didn't freeze. The part that gets me though is that there was a HUGE pile of shells and I have had a hen with a "Sticky" belly I've been watching for a few weeks. I am positive she's been going back in the hidey hole to EAT eggs. D'oh!

 

[LeezyBeezy]

We have an EE who has been sneaky about where she lays from the get go ( a few months ago she started laying). I have found them in a pile of deer fence/netting, inside a cabinet that we removed from the kitchen and stashed in the barn, and indside a snowblower attachment! After taking about a month off this winter, she started laying again, and then "quit." I knew she HAD to be laying, but couldn't catch her sitting. So, turns out she was FLYING up to the second story of the barn (part of it is open to the center aisle), walking across the beams, then went behind a door that was leaning against a wall in an open room up there. 10 gorgeous blue-green eggs, all frozen and cracked!!

So, we basically went through the barn and moved things that we thought she'd like to nest behind or under, but I think she's back at it again... darned hen!!

 

[BarefootMom]

I found a similar stash last week. It has been super cold here so the float test didn't work- so I marked them with a sharpie marker and before I use them a break them into a seperate dish. only 2 out of the 10 eggs I found were good. The rest were too bloody to use.

 

[tom e]

That sounds like my bird. She's always had a sneaky look about her, even before I knew what she was up to. Always off on her own, never with the flock. Always looking up at trees or the bushes or the fence, sort of crouched like she's ready to jump. She's a very 'busy' looking girl too. The other run around foraging, where she always seems to have something better to do. She is also the one that figures stuff out best. First to dig dusting depressions, first to adopt new foods I offer. My girlfriend calls her 'Sarah-cuda' (for sara palin lol) cause she's such a maverick.
We enjoy her antics but I'll bet she's got, or will have, many more hidden clutches.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
This time of year in Venura CA, I'd make a big omelet with them!