The hiding of eggs and making chicks like crazy is why the original owner gives them to me for free lol. She is a vegan and does not eat chickens or eggs, so they are useless to her. I don't know why she has them, she doesn't even like chickens lol...but for me, it's a good trait, I want birds that will free-range and raise their own offspring because feed is expensive and I have horrible hatch rates in my incubator, and it's just one more chore that takes up time, but I do need the chicks...I'm working on breeding a line of laying birds that survive out here in the desert around predators, can mostly feed themselves, and are good mothers, so this plus my Old English bantams are really going to be the foundation, and then I will mix in breeds that are prolific layers to try to get a good balance of broodiness and laying. These girls are getting close to old enough to start laying, so I need to figure out a way to get them to lay at least in a consistent place I can find all the time. Maybe I will put nest boxes near my hay stack, as that is their favorite hangout.
I do have a good coop/run with a roof over it, and I don't know how in the world these things get loose when I manage to get them in, because chickens smaller than them never get loose. I think they've just got such a strong wild gene in them that they can't stand being behind fences, their parents have been free-range only for many generations.
