***UPDATE***What Happened????

[BeckyLa]

Do you have artificial eggs, like ceramic, plastic, or even golf balls, in the nest boxes? These should encourage them to lay in there. It worked for my pullets. I hope you get another soon!

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

Yes, I have the "fake" eggs in the nesting boxes. Took everyones advice on that issue.

and it worked for the first one... Just waiting now for another first or a second lol.

Tes

 

[rrrsmom]

I have to mention that my barred rock layed for a day or two and then I went for at least a full week, maybe 10 days without an egg. Don't know if that will make you feel better or worse, but she's started laying again and she's like clockwork. Good luck!

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

rrrsmom... thanks... I appreciate the input. I have just been hovering over all of them like a mother hen, not to mention crawling under my house, going threw the woods, bushes, compost pile... you name it...

my DH says that I have completly lost it, and quite honestly I think I have... but I just wanted to make sure they were not laying elsewhere since I have several with deep red combs and know they are getting or are now ready to lay. Not to mention checking out the boxes and being territoral of the coop. I am just looking forward to having them eggs after all these months... and keep thinking... she layed one... why wont she lay another

Again, Thanks
Tes

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

****UPDATE****

Hi all...
Well, I found 2 eggs... momma hen and "?" has been laying them in the Ivy at the end of the house!!!

I walked outside this evening and stood up against the car... saw a couple of hens moving in the ivy, so I just stood there and watched... when they finally left, I started tearing apart the ivy... and there they were... one of them looks like another "first" the second.. a little bigger. Well, I picked them up and ran in the house to show DH... sent all kids out to scour under the house,

and had a talk with DH... the eggs were real cool... no warmth... so we decided that since we didnt know when they were layed... we put a huge X on them and I took them out and put them in one of the boxes out at the coop... then I went looking for momma hen she was snooping around in the ivy... so I picked her up and took her to the coop and showed her where I had put her eggs... she really seemed to be happy that I put them there and looked at them for a long time. Well.... did I do the right thing?... I certainly was not going to take any chances since the eggs were so cool and didnt know when they were layed. Enjoy the pictures

I guess from here on out... I will have to search the IVY!!!!

OPPPSSS almost forgot before I came back in for the night, I searched the Ivy again... I found a yellow plastic egg that I had missed earlier... could this be the reason they started laying there???

momma hen and a buff looking for the eggs

The two eggs I replaced in a box.

 

[speckledhen]

LOL, so glad you are such a good chicken detective, lurking in the shrubbery!

Sounds like a good plan to me, putting the real eggs in the nest, but in this heat, I'd not leave them there very long. The girls were just too smart for you and not in the least fooled by plastic eggs! I have one pullet who, I swear, she will drop her egg wherever she's standing. She has some aversion to sitting in a nest and two days in a row, I find an egg in the path down to the coop on the ground, crunched in on the end because she dropped it on some gravel. I've found her eggs all over the place. At least she doesn't hide them!
md, I'm sorry, but we don't have the "Rent-a-Suede" program up and running yet, LOL.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Hope that plastic egg wasn't left over from an Easter egg hunt...LOL
Obelisk laid her egg one time on my DS's bed...I heard a strange thump and she came trucking down the stairs...I was like what the heck? It had a small dent in the end, but was fine.

 

[2mnypets]

Oh this thread is so much fun to read. Yesterday made number 7 pullett laying an egg. One of our NHR pulletts had the terrible habit of laying on the floor in the coop or in the enclosed run. Solved that with a golf ball. Funny thing was she would sit in the nest until just before she "dropped" her egg. I mean she was standing straight up in that trance they get into and her vent was about touching the ground in the nest box. Then suddenly, she would jump out of the box and lay the egg on the coop floor. Talk about frustrating. The first couple times she did I thought "well that's kinda strange". The third egg though was really weird. It didn't have any shell what so ever. A total intact egg with membrane and all, just no shell.

My poor husband thought we were doing something wrong. He was panicking saying "maybe they're not getting enough Oyster Shells!" I told him they eat as much as they want cause there is whole dish full that they eat at will. Glad to know that we aren't the only ones that have to go on a hunt for eggs at times. Best of luck to you.

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

yes that egg was left over from easter... we looked everywhere for it!!! good thing there was no candy, money or even having it be a real egg... ewww...

At least now I know where she is hiding them... Im just panicing now because I wonder if she is going to find a new spot...

the first one in nesting box... mommy stole it, the second one in the ivy... mommy stole it... now... ut oh... well I am just going to have to watch her

Now... if i can just get the other 30+ laying

I just wonder if they are though... and can't find the hiding spot...

I'm so glad I am not the only one that is having "issues" with their beautiful babies.

Spotted crow

one of my hens jumps up in my DS's windows in the morning and wakes him up... does this mean I have to start looking in his room for eggs too??

Don't you all love these spouses think they know it all and when something goes wrong won't listen!!

I am training my slowly... but you know that goes

Have a great day all... guess I should go let the babies out

Tes

 

[speckledhen]

No way to tell if they're laying unless you confine them to the pen for a few days. It's been so hot that mine are balking at spending time in the nestboxes. I put a Coke crate, like a milk crate, but twice as long and only 4 inches high, on the coop floor by the wall with straw in it. Already, several girls have laid their eggs in it. They aren't enclosed and the fan is blowing that direction, so they seem to like it. They have to lay that egg when it's "in the pipe", so if they're too hot, they'll find a cooler place to lay and under the ivy is perfect for that. They may not be regular when they first start laying, either, so it could be a week between eggs for a new layer the first month.