Where have your pullets/hens hid their nests?

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I know that one of my pullets is hiding her eggs. I have looked in all the places they have laid before, but can't find anything. I know that if I sit outside all day I could find out, but geez, it's hot. Have you all ever had them lay on the ground? Tell me what your's have done, maybe I will get ideas...

Jennifer

 

[Oven Ready]

in the garage
under the banana trees - a favorite
on a shelf on the terrace
in the woodshed
in a plastic bucket on it's side
on a piece of 4" PVC pipe (unsuccessfully but three eggs)
on the wheel of the truck - one egg
in a hat near the coop
in tall grass
in the guttering on the coop
in my daughters bedroom - one egg
...
and no doubt other places I haven't found but the hatch wasn't successful.

What is so wrong with nest boxes ?

When you let them out in the morning, keep an eye on where she goes, even if she's not going to sit on them or lay one straight away they seem to like to go and check.

 

[Nostalchic]

I had a hen that was laying way back in the shavings pile (wood shavings that we use for stall bedding). It was a great spot, but every morning when I let them out of the coop, she made a beeline for that spot, and was always REALLY eager to be let out of the run in the morning. I followed her and that's how I found it. She wasn't broody, so didn't try to stay there at night. Does yours do that? I love Oven Ready's list - did they really hatch chicks in those places? So funny!

 

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Well, that's the thing, one of them loves this old '57 chevy parked out there and spends an enormous amount of time around it. She used to get up in it cause the floorboard was rusted out. We fixed that, but I know she's getting up in there somewhere. Our list of where we find eggs is almost as lengthy, and yes, what is wrong with the nest boxes? I just went in the coop, and 2 of them were in the same box fighting over it - the other 3 sat empty!!

Crazy chickens. So if I don't get 8 eggs today, I'm going to have to go on a massive egg hunt... jennifer

 

[Oven Ready]

They seem pretty comfortable with all these odd places.
We've had three very successful clutches hatch on the shelf on the terrace, the buckets and hats (like a straw stetson) are very popular. The woodshed is about 75 metres from the coop so we were surprised to find one in there, she hatched out OK too. The PVC pipe was the most stupid of all, it was just a four inch pipe on it's side and she had tried to lay on the pipe - obviously a roundish egg on a round pipe needs more balancing than you're average chicken can manage so that was a bad choice. The daughters bedroom was a hen that she had played with as a chick a lot, when it was time to lay eggs she obviously thought that was a good place. Easy to spot though - a clucking hen and equally noisy rooster inside the house; didn't take long to find what room they were in. On the car is just plain daft - they know one of them, or sometimes both, will move nearly every day.

We had one 'disappear' and we assumed she'd been eaten by something, but she showed up three weeks later with a load of chicks peeping along behind her, she could've been anywhere.

Free ranging is like having Easter every day. If you don't find them, wait for her to disappear then count the days. It's a lovely surprise.

 

[cottagegarden]

I still can't find where one had a nest and she showed up with three chicks!!