Had to come in and update:
1: No, they eggs are not hidden anywhere. There is no where for them to be hidden other than in coop, in second coop, in either of the two duck houses, or in the goat stalls in the barn.. Nope.. no eggs (no bushes, no vegetation ---- no predators, etc.. this was ruled out at the beginning) (free range area is fenced)
2: Mites.. could of been, but when I inspected the birds and the coop, none were found, however, I inspected them the day after a dusting with poultry duster and cleaned out the coop, so not sure if this was the cause or not.. decided to correct it anyway just in case, so cleaned coop and did the dusting, and checked afterwards.
3: Molt... Most likely.. feathers are everywhere outside and in the coop.
Got two eggs the day before yesterday.. so, looks like molt is over....
BUT, I got the two eggs the day after I fed them a couple dozen worms and several crickets.. I think I have to bribe them from now on.
As for culling vs loving chickens vs loving my hens, etc.... I realize many raise chickens as pets while many raise them for food while some do for both simultaneously. When I first got my chickens, it was never intended for them to be "pets" but rather a step towards self sufficiency and turning my home into a self sustained homestead and micro farm. Yes, I love my birds, because they have names and I have a relationship with them due to daily care and interraction, etc, however, because my end goal in all this was "for food" and egg production, culling is the only option because one, it puts soup in the kitchen, and two, it frees up square footage for replacement layers.
Don't get me wrong here.. it would be a very difficult decision for me to make in regards to culling these hens and it would pain me a great deal since these 3 were our first chickens, but I also want other breeds, more chickens, more eggs, etc and I'm limited in how many I can house without over crowding and although there is the option of re-homing them, if I went with that route I would never do my first cull, which needs to be done if I'm gonna be raising chickens for meat.. I've culled and processed chickens before, but this was over 20 years ago while a student at the aggie.. If my goal is food, I need to get it out of my system to see if I am not only capable, but comfortable with doing so and to conclude whether or not culling and processing my own birds is something I really have the stomach for. When I was an aggie student I was very squeamish about culling chickens those first few times and right now, I don't even know if I have it in me to follow through with my grand plan.
Sure I could outsource the processing part and never see my birds meet their maker, but that in itself detracts from being self sufficient.
I'm in the midst of cognitive dissonance over this.
