will eggs be buried in deep litter?

[Sylvie]

Should I be sifting through the deep litter to find eggs? None have been laying yet that I know of. There are plenty of nest boxes ready and waiting with the fake eggs and golfballs.
When I get out to the coop at daylight they have the litter scratched up pretty good because they have a light from 4am to daybreak.
Now I wonder if one has laid an egg in the litter and it is buried by the time I get out there. I have a baby monitor on in the coop and have heard the bak bak bak bawak for minutes on end which I thought meant one was laying an egg. Or do they just practice that sound for fun?

 

[spatcher]

Are you serious? How much bedding do you think it would take to bury an egg? The only way you you could bury an egg would be to cover it up yourself.

The Fruitcake Lady

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I'm sorry lol but I was wondering the same thing. My girls are getting close to the age of laying and I have been cheching the liter the last couple of days

 

[Sylvie]

My litter is 10" deep and they really stir it up! I can easily see how an egg would disappear! Especially a small first egg, LOL!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Usually if they dig out a nest in the litter and lay there, you just find the eggs laying in the middle. They don't intentionally bury them. I have found a few buried though, if the pine shavings are new and fairly loose, a nest hollowed out in the litter can get buried by other birds kicking around...

 

[flakey chick]

I have been sifting the poop out of their shavings and hopping to come across an egg for the very same reasons.

 

[Rachael]

I have four laying out of 6 hens and they all lay on the floor, its very easy for an egg to dissapear, ive often found one hiding.

 

[cjeanean]

My chickens have buried theirs, too....they kick the litter over the eggs...I've had to rake through the litter at times to find the eggs!!!

 

[hollyk]

I was just wondering the very same thing this morning. I have deep litter ( which I think is fabulous) and have been concerned. Especially since the 3 chicks I have seem to think the nesting boxes are there for them to roost on- so far they have snubbed the actual perches I put in for them. I am glad to know I am not alone. I will do a good inspection of the litter this afternoon.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Haha, Maybe that is what is going on with my girls? They're 18 weeks old, and I am getting a lot of talk they don't usually do, a few of them bawking differently (They're feather sexed birds, Hens grow up Red, Roo's grow up White, just incase anyone makes a Roo comment

)

My litter isn't super deep yet, it's only about 4 or 5 inches deep, but I keep finding a dug out area in one corner, and one next to the nest boxes, and my girls DO scratch a lot for corn that I throw down for them.

I'm going to be checking tomorrow! Sifting, and adding more shavings for the cold winter.