I thought I lost my rooster, he was hiding in the nesting box!

[Zemeraire]

So at about 3pm I noticed my frizzle going to try lay again (I don't know whats up, she normally is done by mid day and had already gone in twice today) and all the rest of my hens and my roo were outside eating the snack I brought them.

About half an hour later I came back out to see if an egg had appeared. All 5 hens were outside and making upset sounds, no roo in sight. I might have panicked. I checked all through the coop and run, the back yard, under the house, in neighbours yards, asked the people across the street if they had seen him. No luck. There may have been tears.

Well I was about to head in and post on facebook to ask people to keep an eye out for him, and remembered why I came out in the first place. So I went to check on the nest box. And guess who had sat his fluffy butt inside the nesting box not making a sound for at least 20 minutes while I was rushing around panicking? And not only was he inside the box, which is where I put him at night and he doesn't seem to like it (thus why it didn't even occur to me to check), he was sitting on the egg that had been laid!

So question is, is this normal for roosters to sit on eggs? Especially while I was making so much noise and the hens were also upset.
And is it a bad thing that it took Toffee so long to lay her egg today?

A good thing did come out of it, I met my neighbour who lives across from me and his kids. The kids had been looking around their yard for my roo before I located him, so I invited them and their dad over to meet the chooks and gave them the egg as thanks for their efforts. The kids were amazed that the egg was blue! And they all got to pet chickens for the first time and loved it.

 

[Callender Girl]

I have no advice about your roo, but your story reminded me of my frantic search this week for my hen, Honey. She is a big, fluffy Buff Orp, one of my original hens and the survivor of a mink attack that killed all her coop mates.

There was a severe thunderstorm on the way, and I was locking up all the poultry before the downpour hit. All were good except Honey. I searched everywhere and remembered that she had chosen to lay in the back of the near-empty hay shed the day before. But, I had filled the shed with bales and was panicked that she was somehow wedged in among all the hay and would suffocate.

I ran to the house to grab gloves and a flashlight with the rain steadily getting harder. I was going to throw out every bale into the rain if that's what it took. I looked over toward the Bantams' run -- and lo and behold, there was Honey. I wondered why the Bantams didn't want to go into their coop. Turns out, Honey somehow wiggled through the tiny door to their coop, deposited an egg far larger than any Bantam could ever lay, and was now standing in the run waiting for me to rescue her from the rain.

Chickens and panic -- they go together! I wouldn't worry so much that Toffee was a little late laying. And, how nice that your neighbors got involved and acquainted!