Free range your pullets and chase the eggs

[gadus]

I raised a dozen Ameraucanas last spring/fall and let them free-range a lot - too much. They got so fond of roosting in the trees that I almost didn't get them into the coop. After a coon got one of them in the night and after a few days of being locked up inside, they started to wise up but now they lay any damn place and I haven't had the time to secure the yard so they can't get out. Obviously I have to let them go outside so currently have no choice but to let them go where they will and then attempt to find the eggs. The ones that thankfully do lay insidethe coop lay in the poop catcher, not in the eggs boxes. I think the lesson is you can go overboard with the free-ranging nonsense. And, truthfully, if your yard is not fly-proof, Ameraucanas are a flightly bird to begin with and will find a way out so you better be ready to repel flights out.

 

[chooki]

I would put multiple alluring nesting boxes with soft, dry straws (or pine shavings) and fake eggs into the dark corners of the coop and lock the pullets up for a few days, until they are trained to use the nesting boxes, before letting them free range again.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

It’s an Easter egg hunt every day! As soon as I find a hidden nest they make a new one somewhere else

 

[kattabelly]

It’s an Easter egg hunt every day! As soon as I find a hidden nest they make a new one somewhere else

Leaving a few marked eggs behind - or fake eggs if your birds will accept those - can sometimes keep them coming back to a nest once you've found it, for a while at least.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Leaving a few marked eggs behind - or fake eggs if your birds will accept those - can sometimes keep them coming back to a nest once you've found it, for a while at least.

That’s a good idea. I try to keep eggs from lying around for snakes and possums to eat but this might help since they are managing to build up for a couple days in most cases.

 

[Onyxflock]

That’s a good idea. I try to keep eggs from lying around for snakes and possums to eat but this might help since they are managing to build up for a couple days in most cases.

I hard boil several and put an x on them so I can tell what's what. They last a little while and not as appetizing for critters.

It seems they mostly lay in the morning. So I don't let them out until after 11 or later, after a lot of them have laid.
But there's no fool proof method.

 

[ABQ chicken keeper]

I think the lesson is you can go overboard with the free-ranging nonsense. And, truthfully, if your yard is not fly-proof, Ameraucanas are a flightly bird to begin with and will find a way out so you better be ready to repel flights out.

Not just Ameraucanas, any lightweight breed with long wings such as Sumatras.
I've mentioned before our area is too wild for free-ranging even if the flock is supervised. Whatever that means!