Where are the eggs, Nancy Drew?

[Dennis Wuest]

My chickens (13 on 7 acres) stopped laying eggs, or so I thought. They were hiding them. I found 32 in a 3 different spots. But now they either quit laying or found a spot so uncannily hidden that they've effectively outsmarted me. Why have they quit using their nesting box. It use to be only for nesting but some new birds started roosting in there. The new birds were the only ones I found. The others lay blue/grn eggs and I haven't seen those in a month or so. They are molting. The older ladies. Not the 5 new ones. I need to determine how to get them back in the nesting house, why they'e doing this and where the heck are they hiding them?

 

[Mahlzeit]

The older hens who are molting are probably not laying through their molt. Also the amount of daylight affects their laying as well, they need 14 hours of daylight for optimal egg laying. Do you have a way to lock them in a run for a week or 2 so they have to lay in the nest boxes and re-learn to use them? Also do you have roosts higher than your nest boxes? Chickens feel safest normally at the hightest possible location they can get to.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Yes, lock them in the coop for a week to habituate them to using the nests again.
Make sure you have enough roost length for all the birds,10-12" per bird,
might need a separate roost for the younger ones.

Pics of your coop, run, nests and roosts would help us help you.