Tips for finding hidden nests?

[Little Tala Bug]

Hi all =)

I strongly suspect a hidden nest on my property but have looked high and low to no avail. We have three hens that lay pale green eggs and have been averaging one egg every 2 or 3 days, when it should be minimum one per day.
Does anyone have any tips for how to find the nests? Stakeout? Egg song? Trail cams? I just know in my bones there's one out there.

Thanks everyone

 

[AidKD]

Maybe try taking a morning and just trailing them. Somewhere that is dark, cool, and small is gonna be your best bet.

 

[Little Tala Bug]

So I didn't find the hidden nest I was looking for, but I did find a little hidden pullet nest with 2 eggs in it! Those are the first eggs we have found with our new POL ladies. I'm such a proud chicken mom right now!!! =)

 

[Mrs. K]

I too am thinking I have one, and searched!

Best thing is a morning, cup of coffee and a book and wait

 

[aart]

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop/run for a week or so can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop and maybe run 24/7 for a few days to a week, provided you have adequate space and ventilation, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[Ridgerunner]

They can be experts on hiding those nests. If they have a nest out there it is well enough hidden that foxes or whatever other egg eating predators you have in Scotland haven't found it yet. I agree with Aart on retraining them but it is best to find the old nest and remove any eggs if you can. It is not always easy.

If you can lock them in a pen or coop, when it is time for them to lay their egg they will probably start pacing the fence, desperately wanting to get out to go to that nest. It should be obvious. That might be a good time to let her out so you can see where she goes. Don't be too obvious following her, she doesn't want you to know where the nest is either, but maybe you can narrow down the search area.

Good luck.

 

[Little Tala Bug]

Thank you for the good advice, everyone! I will redouble my efforts using some of the tips here.

I went out to check periodically today and noticed the most likely suspect, Bridget, pacing around on the other side of our fence. There is a big gap in that fence that just leads to another part of our land, so the chickens are free to go there if they wish, but I have never seen any of them actually do it until now. Behind the area she went is a massive pile of broken pallets which would be literally perfect for her to evade detection and predation. It would also be near impossible for me to find the nest without risking injury to myself or breaking all the eggs.

I also noticed a little parting in her breast feathers. Couldn't see a bald spot but it didn't look normal either, so I'm definitely suspicious. Bridget went broody after hearing her sister, Henrietta, hatch chicks. Henrietta made a secret nest and disappeared on us, only to be found days away from hatch. When Bridget went broody, I chucked her out of the nest multiple times in the day into shady areas so she could cool down and she soon stopped sitting in the nest boxes. I thought I had won but it seems I may have been thwarted and she has initiated plan b.

Tomorrow I'm planning a stakeout: Operation Stake and Eggs. I'll go out during Bridget's normal laying window and do some gardening near-ish to the gap in the fence. If she disappears, I'll follow at a distance and see what she gets up to.

Not sure what I want to do about it if I can't reach the nest. I might just let nature take its course and if Bridget disappears, I'll build another broody coop for the inevitable hatch three weeks down the line. The joys of free ranging!

 

[Mrs. K]

I am cleaning out my nests and coop. I have eggs everywhere. What is the problem girls? I had a broody, but the chicks are 4 weeks old. The layers created a nest on the floor, and I left it as I didn't want them bothering her, and I could reach it. But two days ago I found 3 eggs in the run, here there and everywhere. Yesterday one. Crazy chickens.

Mrs K

 

[Mrs. K]

Think I found the problem, big old bull snake - full of an egg. Ugh! Thank God, I have a wonderful husband.