Freakin chickens!

[Sricher91]

Sooo we live around a lot of woods. My chickens free roam from about 830am - 8/9pm. They are locked in the coop at night.

We’ve had a feeling they’ve been laying for a few weeks. We have 1 chicken (out of 8) who lays everyday in the nesting box. The others we have no idea what’s going on but are assuming they are laying in other places (we search frequently but there is so much brush it’s almost impossible).

Today we locked them in the coop until 3pm to see if they’d lay in the nesting box. We got 2 eggs in the nesting box by that’s it. When we let them out my favorite chicken immediately flew over the fence and and went into the woods. I was cleaning the coop and heard the egg song so I jumped the fence and saw her under some brush. She walked away as soon as I came over and I found 3 eggs in a little homemade nest lol.

We’ve tried the fake egg in the nesting box, and when we lock them in they tend to fight (they were only in today for 3 hours during the day and one girl came out with a bloody comb). Any other ways I can get them all to lay in the nesting boxes? We have an old dog house they like to hang out in, should I build some nesting boxes in there?

 

[A.M. Eggs]

Try and keep them in the fence and near the nesting boxes for about a week. Also destroy any nests you find outside the coop. This will keep them away. Also, one nest box per 3 hens.