Laying outside of the coop

[crystalsc]

I found my alpha hen laying in my tomato plant. The rascal has figured out she can jump the gate into the garden and get into the raised garden bed. They are two years old and they have never laid outside of their coop before. Any clues why she is now doing this? I have not found the others doing it yet but there aren’t any eggs in the coop yet today so I’m worried the others will copy her. There was a black snake in the coop earlier this week but we removed it and have had snakes in there before. I’m going to put some chicken wire down in the raised beds in hopes that deters her. Any other advice is appreciated!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Clean out the nests real good and put in fresh bedding. Mine would not lay in the nests where a black rat snake had been, I think they object to the smell of the snake - as do I, tbh.

Edited for typos, good grief!

 

[crystalsc]

Thank you!