Is my silkie "stealing" eggs?

[Parrotchick]

My silkies take turns hogging the nesting boxes all day and I don't really pay much mind to who stays in which box or for how long. I pick up the eggs just about everyday since I have NO intention of hatching any (I need more roos like a hole in the head). My girls give a token yip, but they're not nearly as cranky as others' I've read about. But even the hormonal rooster and the lost fumbling turkey don't chase them away. I plop them outside for exercise and air when I pick the eggs but they usually return soon thereafter.

I have 3 boxes which all get used, plus a corner of the coop under a small table is also a popular spot. These days I'm averaging about 4 chicken eggs a day of all sizes and colors from 18 hens. I usually gather them in the mid afternoon, but I didn't get around to it at all yesterday. Late this morning, I found 2 eggs under the table and another 5 under the silkie (including a blue EE, a RIR and a Cochin egg). I've never had so many eggs in one spot. So is the silkie collecting them from other spots and putting them in one box? The unit does sit on the floor and I cover the floor in straw, so I guess it's possible for her to do it without breaking them. She's so small though-how would she physically manage it? Anyone ever catch a bird relocating an egg?

 

[WingingIt]

They can roll them around, sure. They might all be laying them there, though, and she just got on them in that spot.

 

[Chick CJ]

I have had my broody hen move eggs from one box to another and to do this she had to go over a one inch barrier. I never did figure out how she did it! I have seen postings of others on BYC who said their hens managed to move eggs all over the place in order to get a clutch! I would love to have a camera out there to see just what goes on!

Cathryn

 

[gryeyes]

I saw my broody Buff Orp move an egg once - absolutely amazing!

She reached across the egg with her beak and neck, pulled / rolled it back into her breast, kept her head tucked over it, and shuffled forward, turned a bit, and kinda shoved the egg up over the nest box lip to get the egg back into the nest box.

It had been very hot this summer, and she had already moved FIVE eggs out of the nest box to set on them in a cooler spot. I didn't see that, just the work she did to move the last egg back into the nest.

As I said, simply amazing.

 

[BeccaB00]

Yes, either shes stealing, or they're all laying in the same box....Or shes just one heck of an egg layer!

Just kidding..2 of my hens I used to have would both lay in one side of the egg box, then only one hen would take the job of hatching the eggs. So she was sitting on about 20 eggs at a time. that didnt work.