My hens free range during the day..do I have to look for eggs?

[shawnm2639]

When do the BR hens start laying and will they lay during the day. I count them every night worring that one will lay while they were out for 12 hrs. You can tell I don't have much experience and have yet to get my first egg...Please help..BYC's are my lifeline

 

[gocrow77]

I have my first flock and am crossing my fingers that my older laying hens I aquired will "teach" my pullets where to lay - I free range also. Hope some Free range experts will come on and give you some good news. Best Wishes!

 

[NotTheMomma]

I don't know! I've seen many posts on this forum stating they found a hen sitting on eggs, or wasn't getting as many eggs, and ends up there was a nest full hidden. I was pet sitting for this family, and they have LOTS of chickens. Too many for me to count. They have several bantams that don't go into the chicken run at all. They are true free range, as in never in a coop, or fenced in! I found 6 nests of eggs in the barn, totaling over 100 eggs!!! I left them, as who knows how long they had been there. The owner threw them out after a few weeks, when only about 20 of them hatched. EEKS! LOL!

Growing up, my parents raised their chickens kinda like I do. I have a coop, and a run, but I turn them out into the yard everyday. I wait until the hottest part of the day so they can find a cooler spot to be in, and they stay out until dust, when they put themselves to bed. I haven't gotten my first egg yet though. I'm hoping they'll lay before I let them out, or at least run back into the coop to lay!

There is a poster that goes by Ruth on here. She has all hers out free ranging, and most come back to lay their eggs. So I guess it depends on what they are use to, and what they know.

I believe we will have to be diligent on counting the amount of eggs versus hens when ours start laying. Just to be sure one hasn't gone broody, or they haven't found a better nesting spot than the metal nesting boxes I have in the coop!

 

[Wifezilla]

My duck usually lays her eggs in her igloo in the mornings, but every once in a while I have to check under this tool box we have up on cinder blocks. She sometimes hides them under there. Good thing she always talks to herself, so we knew she had been hiding in that spot. When there was no egg this morning, sure enough, she hid my breakfast under the tool box. How rude! LOL

 

[DDRanch]

I did not let my girls out to free range until they learned to lay in the coop, in nesting boxes, unless they were supervised. Mainly that was because of the hawk population as I wanted them to get bigger before they free ranged on their own. But, this worked well for laying too.....They always come back to the coop to lay.

If your hens are free ranging and have not learned to use their nesting boxes, I would say, yes, you have to look for eggs.

 

[shawnm2639]

Quote:
Ok..now I guess I just need to know the difference between broody and just laying an egg...broody means "sitting on eggs"? Oh geez I am so ignorant

 

[shawnm2639]

Quote:
Thank you DD..my hens are BR are 20 wks old and to big for the hawks here. I used to sit out every night with them for a couple of hours for that very reason. Now I let them out at 6am and back in at 7pm when I get home from work. I was just wondering when I might see a egg...so far the boxes are empty

 

[ruth]

Hi - as was mentioned my flock is a total free range flock and run all over our farm. Many of them never go in the coop which is closed and locked at night. But many of the over 200 chickens I have never sleep in the coop - they sleep in the bushes around the coop, under the carport, in the yard - all safely guarded by our German Shepherds. They all start out in the coop as babies and when they are a couple of weeks old, depending on temps, I start leaving their cage open. Normaly they stick close to the inside of the coop at first, then slowly start venturing outside. Each new group then finds its own place to roost at night. However, so far, all of them return to the coop to lay their eggs since that's where the nest boxes are and they grow up seeng the older birds lay there. I've also set up the troughs in the old barn to use as nest boxes and some will use those. I do occasionally find a hidden nest of eggs and what I normally do when I first find one is to take all the eggs out of the nest and throw them away or put them in incubator (since I don't know how old they are) BUT....replace them with at least two fresh eggs. Then each day the hen will lay her eggs in the same nest and I can take and use the fresh eggs. I find that if I take all the eggs, she won't lay in the same spot again and will go find another place to hide them. But if I leave a couple of eggs she will continue using her "hidden" nest. Each day I'll gather all the eggs and put two new fresh ones in the nest to be gathered the next day with any new eggs she or others will lay. Often, there is more than one hen laying in the "hidden" nest.