Where are they laying the eggs?

[moeell1]

Ok so my girls are almost 1 and I have 10 of them, red sex links and one rhoda island, they where laying in the coop and than one day i noticed I wasn't getting many eggs, than i found a nice little nest with some eggs in it, out in the yard, so i picked them up and threw them out...well now i have NO idea where they are laying, I might get one or two in the coop but than that is it. Tomorrow they will stay in there coop and chicken yard because i can't have eggs all over my yard or the neighbors it will be begin to smell...any thoughts?

 

[mommissan]

Lock'em up! Can they get lost/buried in litter? I have a naughty EE that likes to scrunch under my shed and lay them way under the middle where I'll NEVER get them! It's only about 4-6 inches tall under there. Do you have any tight spaces like that to hide eggs?

 

[Pete fernBonnie]

same here i have 4 cochin hens and they lay them everywhere so i locked them in the coop that will keep the eggs in real good!

 

[Fierlin1182]

I've had this problem so much it stopped being funny. We free range our chickens, and have had to get up at 6AM many a time to try to figure out where the little buggers were running off to to lay.
I pretty much shut them in the coop for a couple of mornings, put eggs in the proper nesting spot, and waited for them to lay there. After they got back into the habit of inside the coop, I left them to their own devices again, and they settled down in the one spot.

Good luck, I know it can be a pain!

 

[Southern Oregonihens]

Why did you throw the eggs out? Could they have been there for over a week? If a chicken lays an egg a day, and wants to hatch a clutch of 6 all at once, it would take her a week to lay the eggs... The first egg is just as healthy as the rest. Eggs can stay unrefrigerated and be perfectly fine for eating for quite some time.
BTW, golf balls work fine as way to identify your intended laying spot (at least it worked for us).

 

[slsexton]

I've got a similar problem. There are two flocks in the same coop. The year-old flock (7 hens and a rooster) just finished molting and I'm getting 2-4 eggs a day from them. The second flock (three hens and a rooster) hatched last spring and are just at six months. The free range from sun up to sun down. I've left them cooped and the roosters fight and eggs get eaten.

I've looked ALL OVER our 2.5 acres and simply can't find them anywhere. Any thoughts?