Strange Nesting Boxes

[K813ZRA]

I have loads of birds across four flocks and they pretty much lay wherever they want to. I provide them with milk crates stuffed with straw and many of the birds use these but not all. Some use the corner of their coop and others lay in my flower pots or behind my hastas...One Buff Oprington likes to steal the eggs of other birds and lay on them! (Seriously, you should see her roll eggs across the floor to her nest, it is neat. She is evil though...)

Who knows where the ducks lay their eggs...In plants, under trees, in water dishes, under ground, on the porch etc. I find them all over.

All of my birds free range all day long and this can be fun for my nieces and nephews as they can literally have an Easter egg hunt any day they want to. In fact, they love to come over in the summer and collect eggs and feed the chickens.

 

[Faraday40]

This is probably the most unusual place I found an egg. It actually happened twice.

Basically, that shelf is about 6.5' up. It was supposed to be a nice place for me to keep my cleaning bucket & other chicken supplies. The chickens thought otherwise & started sleeping up there - knocking everything to the ground. Fearing the danger of a falling bucket hitting a bird below, my supplies went back into the garage & the hens got another place to roost.

Of course there are times that a hen decides this high, open shelf is a good place to lay an egg. Since there is no ledge, the outcome is often a "splat"on the ground. Once a hen's egg rolled backwards & got stuck (photo above). We grew out some turkeys last summer and ended up keeping one through the winter. She started laying in January. Of course she ALWAYS lays her eggs up there, so the second time this happened, it was a turkey egg.

 

[aart]

This is probably the most unusual place I found an egg. It actually happened twice.

Man, that's crazy ...and amazing it didn't break.
Truthfully tho, I'd strongly suspect 'punked'.

 

[Faraday40]

Man, that's crazy ...and amazing it didn't break.
Truthfully tho, I'd strongly suspect 'punked'.

The chicken egg was slightly cracked on the bottom. The turkey egg did not crack from impact, but it was there for a while & cracked due to freezing temps. It was probably there for a few days before I found it. Let's face it, who would look THERE for an egg!?

 

[Peppercorngal]

This is probably the most unusual place I found an egg. It actually happened twice. View attachment 1713671 View attachment 1713672

Basically, that shelf is about 6.5' up. It was supposed to be a nice place for me to keep my cleaning bucket & other chicken supplies. The chickens thought otherwise & started sleeping up there - knocking everything to the ground. Fearing the danger of a falling bucket hitting a bird below, my supplies went back into the garage & the hens got another place to roost.

Of course there are times that a hen decides this high, open shelf is a good place to lay an egg. Since there is no ledge, the outcome is often a "splat"on the ground. Once a hen's egg rolled backwards & got stuck (photo above). We grew out some turkeys last summer and ended up keeping one through the winter. She started laying in January. Of course she ALWAYS lays her eggs up there, so the second time this happened, it was a turkey egg.

Wow!!!

 

[alex5chickens]

Mine have laid their eggs in a field, in an empty potting soil bag, and in our landscaping. Chickens are creative, and they will lay their eggs wherever they want.

 

[BReeder!]

Ourd chickens made their own nest in a compost pile on a garden bed back in the fall. Perhaps not the strangest to the chickens, but far outside the typical definition of a "nest box".

 

[BReeder!]

I have loads of birds across four flocks and they pretty much lay wherever they want to. I provide them with milk crates stuffed with straw and many of the birds use these but not all. Some use the corner of their coop and others lay in my flower pots or behind my hastas...One Buff Oprington likes to steal the eggs of other birds and lay on them! (Seriously, you should see her roll eggs across the floor to her nest, it is neat. She is evil though...)

Who knows where the ducks lay their eggs...In plants, under trees, in water dishes, under ground, on the porch etc. I find them all over.

All of my birds free range all day long and this can be fun for my nieces and nephews as they can literally have an Easter egg hunt any day they want to. In fact, they love to come over in the summer and collect eggs and feed the chickens.

That sounds like there's potential for a rotten Easter egg hunt
I'd hate to be the child who finds a rotten egg that was sitting for days in the summer heat.