Laying in grass instead of the coop.

[cockadoodledean]

We thought our production was poor due to the cooler weather, in spite of food, free range, leftovers, etc. Well, DH found a pile of about 30 eggs in 6" grass by the creek. The thing that gets me is that it's within 40' of the coop! How do we encourage all of them to lay in their boxes? We have fence around the coop to lock them in but they fly too well and most will get out. Would it be necessary to build the fence higher? Do we just hope for lots of snow? Golf balls?
Now that we know about this secret stash we can monitor how many/day but I want to discourage this behavior! Thanks in advance!

 

[AJ666]

I had the same problem sooo I put a golf ball in each nest box and locked my flock in their coop for three days. Since they just started laying they didnt know where the nest boxes were or what they were for so I would pick a hen up and put her in the box. Something came over them when they realized where they were and they have layed in the box ever since.

Hope this helps!

 

[annie3001]

Quote:
great advice, thats what i too would do. when i started out with chickens, i used the golf ball.... the new flock already saw "real" eggs in the nesting box, so it came naturally for them.
good luck! that 30 eggs is alot!!!!! omg! what did you end up doing with them?

 

[cockadoodledean]

We aren't sure who or how many were laying them, but we have 14 chickens that are 7 months or so. DH just tossed them into the woods. Some/most are laying in the coop so it could be just a couple of them being odd. I'm hoping to get a better picture of things this afternoon- when I count the eggs in the grass. Our 1 1/2 year olds have since quite laying (or they have their own secret stash

) I'm going to try golf balls, but there are plenty laying in the nesting boxes so we'll keep our fingers crossed!