I love my chickens, but.... Why?

[shortgrass]

Most definitely. It could be just one, but the lead culprit could also be showing everyone else where the stash nest is They do that when they don't feel that their nesting boxes are "safe". It's the new environment, it has them a little confused so they reverted back to what they know; hide the eggs

Going to have to confine them for a bit. Lol just to make you feel better, it happens more than you think

This gal earned the ladies a second coop; she was doing it because of over crowding. If you can't tell, my BRs are quite ornery lol

 

[User395221]

Most definitely. It could be just one,

Thanks.

That's a mugshot of a perpetrator, if ever I saw one

I think it might just be one of them. I've been getting 3 eggs, I just thought somebody might be a bit "off" with the stress of changing houses. I had thought somebody might be laying in the bushes and had looked, but didn't look in the right place.....

I just hate locking them up. They stand at the door like they are in prison, they don't just wander about and look like they are having fun.

 

[shortgrass]

You don't have to lock them up all day, just wait until you are pretty sure they have all laid(most if mine are done by 2 PM) and then let them out for the afternoon


Do watch them closely; the perpetrator in the pic lol; I had to stalk her to find the nest, and she was antsy to go every day to her spot. I could almost clock when she was going to sneak off and lay because she would start pacing and no matter what method I used to block her off from leaving, she was frantic to get around the house to that tree, even digging under a storage container to find a back route!

She knocked it off as soon as I removed the eggs and put her in a new coop... Well, she actually started laying in our camper after that, so I made IT into a coop (there's a link to it in my signature; that hen has issues lol)

 

[User395221]

You don't have to lock them up all day, just wait until you are pretty sure they have all laid(most if mine are done by 2 PM) and then let them out for the afternoon

I hope they adjust. They'd have laid (one would lay later on) when I get them up in the morning. They didn't yesterday, the boxes were blocked. Today, only 2 laid. I hope there isn't another secret nest out there started up because the boxes are blocked.

If they get the hang of the perch and laying there, will I still have to shut off the boxes? It's a bit of a pain, because I have to go into the run and open the coop to shut the flap, whereas the nest boxes can just be accessed from the outside.
Quote: But I don't have a camper; don't tell me I have to buy them one

I find it difficult to know who is who, they travel in a pack, they don't really seem to display markedly different personalities. I couldn't pick "the sneak" out of a lineup. It could be any of them.

 

[shortgrass]

Lol no, you don't have to buy a camper; I think that was DHs sneaky way of getting a newer camper by giving me his old one lol

They're like little kids. The chickens, not the husband ha-ha... They have just moved to a new house in a new town and a new school! After time, they should all be comfy on the roosting perches, albeit pecking order may make the call there; sometimes a hen just doesn't want anyone sitting by her and will peck anyone and anything in her space, but they usually end up working out a good order to roost in.

And you probably won't have to block off the nest boxes forever, just a couple weeks or so until everyone has a spot picked at night. I don't think blocking the nest boxes is what prompted the sneaking, since there were so many eggs in the nest, they've been sneaking for a while...

I usually can't tell most of my BRs apart, either. I can really only tell who they are by their combs, and the fact that one is moulting and has no tail right now... My ornery bird is "floppy comb"

 

[User395221]

I don't think blocking the nest boxes is what prompted the sneaking, since there were so many eggs in the nest, they've been sneaking for a while...

No, it was the new house that did it. I was warned that they'd try to go to their old house. Most just moved straight in to the new house, obviously one girl felt she needed to make her own arrangements.

Quote:
I can tell who they are if I really look at them, and their previous people put cable ties on their legs (but I can't remember which goes with which, I have to look at their faces). The thing is, when they are all milling about I don't recognise them as individuals, just as "the girls". There's one who has pale feathers, I suppose she would stand out physically, but I'm usually too busy trying to dump the food and run so they don't jump on me. LOL

 

[shortgrass]

Yep, you're probably right, the new house did it. I actually tried to integrate 4 henscfrom one coop to the other yesterday, and come bedtime, all of them had managed to "fly the coop" back over to the old one. They don't like change

 

[User395221]

Today they spent all day in their run. I would have let them out if they'd all laid, but only 3 did..... I hope little "nest in the bushes" won't be traumatised by having to stay away from her little hidey-hole.

 

[aart]

Today they spent all day in their run. I would have let them out if they'd all laid, but only 3 did..... I hope little "nest in the bushes" won't be traumatised by having to stay away from her little hidey-hole.

She'll get over it....creating new habits can be hard, but worth it in the end.

 

[User395221]

She'll get over it....

I hope so, they can really turn on the emotional blackmail, those chickens. Those faces, those dashes for freedom......