I found their STASH!

[beefy]

mine havent laid under the bushhog yet but idk why. it looks like an ideal spot. i'd totally lay there...

 

[rebecca10782]

mabye if you guys distracted the girls with something yummy outside the coop you could steal the eggs when they are not looking

 

[ruth]

I find hidden nests all the time. Here's a little trick I've learned. If I clean out the nest and take all the eggs - they usually won't lay there again and will go hide another nest. But, if I leave a couple of eggs, they will continue to lay there and I will know where to find them. So what I do (when I first find a nest and don't know how old the eggs are) is to take all eggs out and add them to bucket of eggs that get cooked and fed back to chickens. Then I put a couple of fresh eggs, from that day that I've gathered from the regular nests, into the "hidden" nest. Then each day I continue to gather the fresh eggs in the hidden nest always leaving two.

 

[rebecca10782]

Quote:
seriously would that work, I am new to chickens

 

[Leah-yes I know I'm crazy]

Quote:
To check for freshness, since you don't know how long they've been there, put them in a bowl of water. If they stay horizontle or only slightly angled up they are still good.

 

[PoultryPedia]

All my free-rangers have been hiding their eggs for a good MONTH now!!!!!! It's driving me crazy! I've tried tying up the dog (who I know 1 time did figure out egg-opening & eat 1 egg), noting location when their roos & hens did their somebody-laid-an-egg cry, snooping around where the hens have been lingering, pawing through the bushes and grass, looking under equipment, checking last year's nest location, etc. NO DICE!!! or NO EGGS, I should say

Come on, girls, help me out here! 2 of the 3 hens aren't even broody-types.

 

[Leah-yes I know I'm crazy]

Quote:
A week ago I finally got all my free rangers into confinement to prep for winter habbits. Today my neighbor finally poked his head over the fence kind of sheepishly and told me he was out of eggs now since they weren't sneaking into his dog house anymore to lay. I love my neighbors.

 

[beefy]

Quote:
this is my method too except i only leave one.

 

[amysue2012]

Leah- maybe you could talk your neighbor into buying a dozen or so now and then and he could still have fresh eggs. Then you could use your egg money to pay for part of the feed bill.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
this is my method too except i only leave one.

Ditto. They always seem to have a back up hiding spot too!