Will they come back to the nestbox to lay egg?

[LilBizzy]

One of my hens laid her first egg on Tuesday, between the time BirdHearder left for work at 3 and when I got home at 6pm. ( It was so EGGCITING to find an egg!!)
On Wed, the same thing. On Thursday I came home, and birds were out roaming- no egg

But then when I went out Friday morning at 8am, there was an egg!!! Saturday, the egg didn't appear till around 10, and today it was 11am when I went out and found a still warm egg.
So the theory that it takes 25 hours to lay an egg seems to hold true- except for Thursday. So , a few questions..

Can they "hold" the egg if they aren't near the nestbox? I am fairly positive its only 1 of the 4 "ladies" laying. But the schedule was off by 12 hours the day they were roaming.
I've been keeping them in the run till I get the egg, because I'm not sure- will they run back to the nestbox to lay eggs if they are free-ranging?
Also there is another of the big girls I think will start laying soon. Should I keep them in the run to make sure she lays in the nestbox?

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

Mine are in a pen, and they go to the boxes to lay, but my friends' were free-roaming and they would just lay wherever. So be careful, check everywhere otherwise you'll either have surprise babies or you'll find rotten eggs, or pull out the lawnmower or something and break eggs.
I have some girls who lay early and some who lay late.......some days we get eggs at both times, sometimes not at all....

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have a banty hen that seems to lay for 4 days out of the week recently. I think her cycle is a bit messed up right now though the others are laying well.
My hens are free ranged and though they have many acres to roam I see them excuse themselves from the flock and head back to the coop to lay in the nest boxes. On occasion I find one on the floor of the coop but mostly I think that is because they all want in the same nest box as the alpha hen lays in and it may be occupied.
If my girls lay outside of the coop, I close them up for a few days in there and they get the hint.

 

[ChickPeas]

You sounds exactly like me...I was wondering the same thing..thanks for posing this scenario to the masses for comment!

So once the hen goes to the box or wherever she has chosen to lay, how long does it take before she actually lays the egg? Let's say she begins to sit at 1pm, does she sit there for a full 24 hours before it's finally laid?!?!?

I'm confused.

 

[LilBizzy]

From what I know ( which isn't much), they just go to the nestbox, lay the egg, and then run out and go about their chicken business. But it supposedly takes 25 hours for an egg to form- so basically they will lay an egg every 25 hours, in a perfect world. And now that Im paying attention, it seems to be holding true. I just don't want to go on an egg hunt everyday, although my neighbors would probably love it.

I made another post about my chickens preferring my neighbors yard to mine:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=75716

Nadine, I like how you said your chicken excuses herself to go lay an egg. LOL