No eggs,,, missing hens,,,,, this must mean.... Pics

[WriterofWords]

I have been so frustrated with my girls, I actually had to go buy eggs! They aren't laying darn it, is it the heat? Are they mad at me? Or are they..........

Hiding their darn eggs! I found 6 hidden nests:
Under half an old travel kennel:

In a mesquite bush:

In the coop:

In an old feeder on it's side behind a garden cart:

In unused rabbit hutch:

In another old rabbit hutch:

These do not include the legitimately broody Big Sissy and Hershey the duck. oh yeah, Muddy the duck is sitting on eggs in a dog kennel too!! No wonder I have to buy eggs.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Mine lay in Kennels or Rabbit hutches off the ground. I Havent had any hiding from me yet!

 

[TXmom]

WOW...that's almost 3 dozen eggs there! I would be upset if I had that many eggs laying around, and then had to go buy some...GRRRRRRRRR.

My pullets are just now beginning to lay, and I'm worried that they're hiding them in my yard. I hate to keep them locked up in the coop/run all the time....but I really don't know where they might be laying. I found 1 egg last Saturday in the coop, and then 1 egg today from a different hen. That's it. Where are my eggs???

 

[LilBizzy]

That's almost funny. I know I had one girl that used to escape the run every day- disappear for a little while, then hop over the fence back in to the run.
I started trying to follow her around to see where she went, but she managed to disappear on me. Did 12 days of this, but I didn't have hours and hours to waste following a dern chicken.
On day 13, I had enough. I followed her for several hours, and darned if she didn't disappear again. We were in my 1 neighbors yard who has a LOT of .. uh.. junk, including an old truck cap, a trailer, a beat up RV, a few dead trucks, a pool that has a huge tree growing in the center of it and a lopsided shed. I had been on my hands and knees in that yard looking for eggs..
Well, I knew she couldn't be too far, and then I found her- in the very back corner of the lopsided shed, surrounded by junk..happily laying egg number 13 on the pile of 12 others.
For 3 or 4 days, I locked her butt up in the coop until she laid her egg , and I have only found 1 in the lopsided shed since then.
But you.. hee hee, you hit jackpot 6 times.

 

[tunaoftheland]

those are some sneaky birds!! That is pretty impressive. I would be annoyed at my girls too if I had to buy eggs. Good thing you found them at least!

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I wondered why I was only getting 3 eggs a day. I have one broody sitting in a corner underneath the nesting boxes and after she bit me, I decided to let her set and see what happened. The other girls use the higher boxes (or so I thought). Yesterday I found a hen laying next to broody. She got up, and broody snatched her eggs and rolled them under her. If I could get to her and check, she's got to have 30 eggs she's setting on.

Note to self: only eat the eggs in the upper boxes

 

[WriterofWords]

Well with mom's help we around to every hidden nest and put Xs on the eggs so we could see what is new. TxMom you were very close, by the time we marked all the eggs is 3 doz and 11 eggs! That doesn't include the legitimate broody's who had permission to sit on their eggs. If you look at the nest under the half dog kennel, there are eggs of 5 different sizes in it, both duck, standard, and bantam chickens and a duck is sitting on them. Two of the other nests have mixed chicken and duck too, and the one in the coop under tiny little Butterscotch has at least 4 or 5 different hens eggs in it. This morning Butterscotch was sitting on them, this afternoon Buffy was and this evening Red is sitting on them.

 

[LilBizzy]

LOL they are taking turns sitting on eggs.. I dunno how you do it- I have 1 broody, and she's making me nuts. I won't let her sit on the eggs, because I really don't have room for more chicks. I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with all those broodies.

 

[WriterofWords]

I'm gonna put out a sign in chicken scratch that says: NO BROODINESS ALLOWED!!! See if they honor it!

 

[WriterofWords]

Forgot something, in the third picture, they grey duck is Babbette, Hershey and Twinkie's offspring, the duck that thinks she's a chicken. Butterscotch is sitting on 3 of Babbette's eggs, they aren't fertile though. Babbette is sharing sitting duties though, the hens are the roost right now and Babbette is on the nest.