Free Ranging Hens Laying Elsewhere

[Shanny123]

We have had chickens for a couple of years now. We have tried to let them free range as much as possible, but we lost one of our girls kind of quickly to a bob cat and reeled it in a little for safety reasons. They have a large run that is covered with fun stuff in it that has kept them happy, but they are the happiest when out and about .They have gotten really good at staying on our property and coming when called so the last few weeks we have been really letting them free range all day. They have been loving it. However, the last few days have gone from 7 eggs a day to 3. I'm pretty confident they are laying somewhere else and not coming back to the trusty nesting boxes. I am really loving that they have been out but I also don't want to miss out on eggs...any suggestions or is it one over the other??? I guess I should also mention our property has a few acres of dense woods with great coverage and high places to perch so even the thought of trying to find them wouldn't work.

Hi. My little red EE hen was laying a greenish egg every couple of days but over the last 2 weeks I noticed she wasn't laying as often. She's the youngest of my 4 hens and I just thought , maybe she's still a bit young. Oh and I free range them most of the day in my large backyard. Well I heard a hen making a loud repetitive Chicken song yesterday and I followed the sound. I'm enclosing a photo. I found the little red hen in a hard to reach spot between the hot tub that doesn't work and the house. She had 5 green eggs there!!!' Hubby will remove eggs thus sfternoon . Now we need to buy chicken wire I guess, and enclose that area so she can't return to it. ?? We still get 2 to 3 eggs almost every day. Plenty for us. And I have had a green egg in the coop recently, just wondering if this is par for the course?

 

[Shanny123]

Hi. My little red EE hen was laying a greenish egg every couple of days but over the last 2 weeks I noticed she wasn't laying as often. She's the youngest of my 4 hens and I just thought , maybe she's still a bit young. Oh and I free range them most of the day in my large backyard. Well I heard a hen making a loud repetitive Chicken song yesterday and I followed the sound. I'm enclosing a photo. I found the little red hen in a hard to reach spot between the hot tub that doesn't work and the house. She had 5 green eggs there!!!' Hubby will remove eggs thus sfternoon . Now we need to buy chicken wire I guess, and enclose that area so she can't return to it. ?? We still get 2 to 3 eggs almost every day. Plenty for us. And I have had a green egg in the coop recently, just wondering if this is par for the course?

And thanks for mentioning this topic.

 

[Shanny123]

Yes!!! It worked!!! I kept them in there til about 10:45 and everyone had laid so I let them out!!! I will just have to check from now on before letting them go thanks everyone for the ideas!!! I also like the idea of having to retrain them by keeping them in there a few days if necessary. That will have to happen if this doesn't continue to work!!!

I will try that too. Now I'm wondering if the others have been doing it as well? There was thst one day recently where I only got one egg.

 

[Shanny123]

Also a good idea!!! And now that I think of it my ladies do some loud celebrating each and every time they lay...so if I don't catch them before I can certainly catch them after ha ha ha!!!!

Exactly! That's how I discovered my hen with 5 eggs behind the hot tub thst is kaput.

 

[SoCha]

Hi. My little red EE hen was laying a greenish egg every couple of days but over the last 2 weeks I noticed she wasn't laying as often. She's the youngest of my 4 hens and I just thought , maybe she's still a bit young. Oh and I free range them most of the day in my large backyard. Well I heard a hen making a loud repetitive Chicken song yesterday and I followed the sound. I'm enclosing a photo. I found the little red hen in a hard to reach spot between the hot tub that doesn't work and the house. She had 5 green eggs there!!!' Hubby will remove eggs thus sfternoon . Now we need to buy chicken wire I guess, and enclose that area so she can't return to it. ?? We still get 2 to 3 eggs almost every day. Plenty for us. And I have had a green egg in the coop recently, just wondering if this is par for the course?

Hi, I would do the same thing ad I said in the other answer, you should just leave her in the coop until she lays. You should also put a fake egg, or empty egg in the nesting box so that she knows where to lay. Hope this helps!

 

[Shanny123]

Hi, I would do the same thing ad I said in the other answer, you should just leave her in the coop until she lays. You should also put a fake egg, or empty egg in the nesting box so that she knows where to lay. Hope this helps!

Thanks so much. I'll do that. Very helpful. Thank you!

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

You should try letting them out after lunch so they have already laid their eggs for the day

 

[New2Chicks97]

Yes!!! It worked!!! I kept them in there til about 10:45 and everyone had laid so I let them out!!! I will just have to check from now on before letting them go thanks everyone for the ideas!!! I also like the idea of having to retrain them by keeping them in there a few days if necessary. That will have to happen if this doesn't continue to work!!!

Glad it worked!

 

[Shanny123]

You should try letting them out after lunch so they have already laid their eggs for the day

I'll try that. Thanks. I'll let you know how it goes. Checked the coop this afternoon after I wrote in the forum, and had 4 eggs including a greenish one. So I guess she's been laying both places.