Weird day for my flock

[TerryBowleg]

I have 5 RIR’s that are about 9 months old. They get locked in the coop at night and free range during the day. Been getting 5 eggs a day out of them this spring. Today I only got 2 eggs, which is strange but didn’t think too much about it. When I went to lock the coop tonight (a little after dark) one of the hens was missing. I was just with them about an hour before dark. I got to looking around and there was a busted egg on the ground (I didn’t really notice a shell with the busted egg, see pics), and I looked up directly above the busted egg and there was my missing hen roosting high on their unfinished chicken run. I don’t know what’s up with that lol. I’ve never had a day where they only gave me 2 eggs, I’ve never had a day when one of the hens didn’t go back to the coop, and I don’t know why she dropped an egg from up high like that. Strange. Don’t know if something is up or just chickens being chickens.

 

[MountainWoman73]

They could have gotten scared or startled by something. Disrupted laying and changing sleeping locations can both be responses to a predator scare.

 

[TerryBowleg]

They could have gotten scared or startled by something. Disrupted laying and changing sleeping locations can both be responses to a predator scare.

I did put my 10 week old chicks out by them in a separate coop a couple of days ago. Maybe that has disrupted them?