Letting them see you collect eggs

[chickenaddictntn]

I don't think they care because they just keep laying them.

 

[Nostalchic]

Honestly, I've had the same thought! I mean, broodies get all hostile when you take eggs out from under them, so they are AWARE - and who knows if they aren't watching and paying attention when not broody, and thinking about other places to lay where YOU won't be able to find them. (And then they come up with those places - behind my stacked hay in the barn is a good one - I never let them see me find those eggs, or they'll think of an even more inconvenient hiding place, probably.) A lot can go on in a brain, even one the size of a pea, clearly. (Theirs, not mine)

 

[kuntrygirl]

I don't think that mine care. I bring out about 3 or 4 egg flats and commence to collecting.

 

[ivymae]

Mine just started laying last weekend, and I was worried about the same thing. So far, they don't seem to notice or care. It might help that I always give them a treat after I collect the eggs!

 

[AinaWGSD]

I'm pretty sure most hens that aren't broody really don't care. I have an external nest box on my little coop to save floor space inside the coop and it opens from the outside purely for convenience.I have one hen who will curse me out if I open the nest box on her and disturb her while she's laying, and especially if I reach under her to look for eggs, but none of the others really seem to be bothered by it. One of my EE will talk to me quite animatedly, but she does that as soon as she hears the back sliding door to the covered back porch open and knows someone will be coming out of the house. I do try not to disturb them much when they are in the nest box though, so usually when I open the box and see a hen (or two) on the nest I just close it and come back again later.