Where are the eggs? Advice needed

[kyle7630]

I have 3 small chicken houses. One with 2 JG's, one with 4 RIR's, and one with 3 RIR's and 2 BO's. They all free range together but go to their respective coup at night. I normally open them up before I go to work, which is around 5:30am. Some of them still lay in their nesting boxes, but I find the occasional egg here and there. I feel like they are all laying at least some, but the eggs I find plus the ones I collect don't add up to what I feel they should. How do I get them to use the nesting boxes for a majority of the eggs? Is there a certian time they usually lay or is it all random? Does the time of day that I feed them matter? Thanks. Side note; I only get eggs from the coupe with the 2 JG's and the 4 RIR's. Never seen one egg in the coupe with 5 chickens in it.???

 

[wood&feathers]

Sounds like a two pronged problem. One, your chickens may not be laying much due to the short days and possibly some in moult? Two, what eggs they are laying aren't always in the nest boxes.

Sounds like you might need to pull up a lawn chair and sit with them some to see where they head off to lay. Also in these small coops are there enough next boxes? My problems with hens hiding eggs seem to be a summer thing. Mine have been shut up for a month due to hawk migration and snow, and are only now back free ranging. I haven't found hidden eggs or seen a hen sneaking off to the woods or crawl space since August. They are creatures of habit, and being in chicken prison seems to have attached them to using their nest boxes again.

 

[gritsar]

I would suggest two things. One, lock them up in the coop for a few days until they've gotten into the habit of using the nestboxes again.

Two, I would make food available to them in their coop 24/7 and not feed on a schedule.

 

[kyle7630]

Quote:
I have mash in their houses, but they mostly feed out while they are in the yard. I will try keeping them locked up for a while, I just have to figure out how to keep everything clean without letting them out.