If you were a chicken egg...

[Unicornlife3316]

Where would you be!?!?

I have 10 free ranging chickens that are about 20-22 weeks old. I’ve gotten ONE egg because somebody laid it in the coop (possibly before let out for the day) but now I can’t find ANY!

They are let out around 8 AM each morning and they head straight for my open barn, it’s just a big metal roofed building where we store extra trucks and a tractor and some trailers. This is where I feed and water them and they don’t go to the coop until bedtime.

I have searched that barn up one side and down the other, and can’t find anything!

So really.. my question is - should I move the laying boxes from the coop (since they’re never there) to the barn, hoping they’ll use those. Build a new laying box and hope they’ll use that one? Leave them locked up for the day to see how many eggs I get? <- I REALLY don’t want to do this, as it’s just a 10x10 pen and definitely not big enough for them to stay in all day but perfectly fine and safe for bedtime.

Really.. any help is appreciated. These are my first chickens so I’m learning as I go!

As always, thank you!!

 

[jaxonann]

I was really hoping you'd ask what KIND of chicken I would be when I hatched...

My ladies free range during the day but they go back to their coop to lay. I had to keep them inside the coop for a few days so they knew where to lay. I used wooden eggs in their nesting boxes as visual cues for them. IF you do that please glue a 3 together in triangle so snakes cannot eat them. It is possible that at 20-22 weeks you may only have 1 or 2 that are laying.

 

[Unicornlife3316]

I was really hoping you'd ask what KIND of chicken I would be when I hatched...

My ladies free range during the day but they go back to their coop to lay. I had to keep them inside the coop for a few days so they knew where to lay. I used wooden eggs in their nesting boxes as visual cues for them. IF you do that please glue a 3 together in triangle so snakes cannot eat them. It is possible that at 20-22 weeks you may only have 1 or 2 that are laying.

OK — If you were a chicken egg.. what kind of chicken would you be!?!?

I’d be one of those fancy ones with the feathered heads! Silkies? Polish? Whatever they are.. I need one of those fancy birds LOL

Ok, should the laying boxes be on ground level? They’re currently about 3 feet off the ground on a wooden roost table thing. That’s an AMAZING idea about gluing them together to save snakes. I love snakes and def don’t want to harm any. Don’t even mind sharing eggs for mice control!

Thank you!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Ok so extra vehicles are in the barn......

Can they get in the cabs?

Check wheel wells, under seats, engine compartments, behind, in and UNDER everything.

I would lock them up a few days myself.

I would also lower the nests.

Oh and if I were an egg....I would hatch out to be a bantam cochin....probably a red one.

 

[Unicornlife3316]

Ok so extra vehicles are in the barn......

Can they get in the cabs?

Check wheel wells, under seats, engine compartments, behind, in and UNDER everything.

I would lock them up a few days myself.

I would also lower the nests.

Oh and if I were an egg....I would hatch out to be a bantam cochin....probably a red one.

I saw one sitting on top of my brothers truck the other day and had this SAME thought! So I searched the bed of the truck, but came up with nothing. The windows are up so they can’t get in the cab on that one but the blazer doesn’t have a top currently.. guess I should check the blazer
My brothers will kill me if they find out my chickens are laying eggs in there LOL
Not really, they haven’t driven them in years and they’re parked in the barn because they flooded during Harvey, so not currently drivable.. guess that could make them the perfect place for chicken eggs!

 

[aart]

Leave them locked up for the day to see how many eggs I get?

Yes....but more than a day.
I know, you don't want to and they won't like it, but do it now or forever search for eggs.


Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[Unicornlife3316]

Yes....but more than a day.
I know, you don't want to and they won't like it, but do it now or forever search for eggs.


Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

I wouldn’t be against it for a day, but honestly it’s not a good place for them to stay all day. It’s a metal loafing shed and our heat index has been 110-115 these last few days, even though it’s open air and has plenty of breeze, it’s just too hot.

 

[Unicornlife3316]

Well.. I happened to catch Maui (my one white leghorn, and white egg layer) come out of my brothers truck bed.. so I climbed up and had a look. Guess what I found

We are just going to move the laying boxes to the barn, in a “hidden” place they hang out and put a few eggs in, then maybe that will help!

 

[Unicornlife3316]

I moved their laying box to the barn, they’ve already tested it out! Fingers crossed they’ll use it LOL wish us luck!

 

[aart]

Guess what I found

Sorry

wish us luck!

Best of cLuck!!