free rangeing and egg laying?

[birdbrain5]

i free range my flock from about 12pm (earliest) til they go in to roost at night, which is somewhere from 5-6:30 depends on the weather. i keep them in until then because of hawks, and it seems my girls lay sometime in the morning hours so i go let them out and collect eggs. id like to start opening the coop around 7:30 am to let them range all day long, but im wondering, will they return to lay in the boxes or am i going to be finding eggs everywhere, or not finding them at all? is it in the hens instinct to return back to the coop to lay or will they find a hidden spot outside somewhere? i was thinking i could put a box with hay or shavings outside where they mostly hang out incase someone has the urge, and maybe they will lay in there rather than finding somewhere random. any thoughts or experiences with this?

maybe i should have put this in the behavior and egg laying section...?

 

[tammye]

mine go back to the coop to lay, at least I have never found an egg outside.

 

[krcote]

Quote:
x2

 

[7L Farm]

My girls go back to the coop & lay their eggs. After they lay they sing the egg song & my rooster heres her & runs over to the coop & escorts his girl back to the flock. Its funny to watch.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

X3

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
I would worry more about hawks.

 

[dsqard]

X4!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Most of the time, mine go back to the coop top lay if they are sleeping in that coop. Occasionally one will lay somewhere else. If I find that one is laying somewhere other than the coop, I lock them all in the coop for a few days, until that hen has laid a few eggs where I want her to. It helps if you can find the other nest and remove the eggs. She usually gets the message.

I suggest you try it and see what happens. It doesn't always work perfectly but I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[mrsbos]

I have 3 pullets and they all take turns returning to the one nest box to lay their egg. They get to free range all day. When they first started laying I got a few eggs in weird places (like on top of my trampoline), but after placing a golf ball in the nesting box they all figured out the right place to put the eggs and I've had no stray eggs since.

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

I let mine out as soon as I wake up (8 or 9) and they just return to the coop to lay their eggs. I have one pullet who used to lay in the bushes, but she lays in the boxes now.