Will my free range chickens lay in the coop?

[amymtaylor2014]

My chickens are only in the coop at night and free range a very large area all day long. One of my girls is very close to laying as her comb has darken and she is squatting when I go to pet her. Will she come back to the coop to lay? How will I know if she lays the egg somewhere else?

 

[tcstoehr]

It's likely but not guaranteed. Put some fake eggs or some golf balls in the nest boxes to help them get the idea. I can't say for sure that it helps, but how could it hurt. Mine took to it right away even though they free range over 1/2 of an acre. I recently removed the fake eggs thinking it would help keep them from getting broody and that was the only time they ever laid outside the coop. So I put the fakes back in the nest boxes and they went right back to laying in the nest boxes. It's only anecdotal I know.
The way I found out they were laying outside the coop was I heard one of them doing the "egg song" away from the coop. I got suspicious and went to check it out and found five eggs in a corner of a lean-to shed. So keep your ears open.