Should I leave the eggs alone

[littledel]

Twice now after letting my flock out for the day, all the hens have gone to the same corner of my garden and laid their eggs. Same nest under cover each time, instead of laying in the hen house. Is this a sign of them getting broody, should I leave the eggs there and see if one starts to set, or get the eggs and not let the hens out til they lay for the day.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Unless you want to pretend it is Easter everyday and go for an egg hunt, I would keep them in and get them laying where I want them to. They can "go broody" in the hen house just as well as outside. One of the hens probably just didn't make it back to the hen house one day and found the next best thing. The others followed suit. They will do the same thing inside the hen house and get back to a better habit.

 

[littledel]

Quote:
I believe you are right on this. The last time they did this, I left them in the pen a day or two and they did what they were supposed to do. I was mainly just curious as the the chances of broodiness. I may mark the eggs and put them in a nest in their hen house and see if anyone wants to volunteer to hatch them.

thanks for the answers.

 

[momofchicks]

How old are they? I don't remember my hens ever laying outside, they would rush back to their nesting box to lay. I do know they layed on the ground in the coop before because the box they wanted was occupied. As a matter of fact, they all loved the same box so much that 2 hens were in there at once laying and another was waiting on the roost for her turn.

Anyway, I agree with other poster, one of them probably layed there and the others decided to follow.

 

[littledel]

These hens are fairly young,1-2 years old and if one lays somewhere, the others seem to think they have to do the same. I have 4 nests in the henhouse, but they will stand in line, waiting their turn to all lay in the same nest.

 

[gckiddhouse]

Yup! That's what they do... I have never researched this, but my guess is that birds of a flock allow one hen to do the hatching of all their eggs. I would bet that is how turkeys and ducks and large foul do it in the wild. The flock couldn't afford to have all the hens sitting at once. Makes sense from a survival perspective

 

[Cynthia12]

Ha, gckiddhouse, love the pic!

I also like your little chick picture for your main picture..I have a couple outside that are about that size, and look almost like yours..from my last hatch. Pretty cute.
I can't figure out how to put up a picture, it's driving me crazy.

Cynthia

 

[gckiddhouse]

Uh, well, I often have to ask for help myself. do you have any pics uploaded to your BYC storage? If so, you click on uploads (blue bar above) and a new window will open, then in the bottom right, click on my uploads, then go to the pic you want and copy the link for the picture and paste it in a post. If that doesn't work, then double click on the picture and it will come up in its own frame. Now copy and paste.

If you don't have any uploads yet and it isn't working to just browse for pics, then you will need more help than I can give.

Hope that helps

ETA- if it doesn't, then either search here for help uploading (I am sure someone has asked before) or post a question in whatever section you want to post the pic in.