Will they lay under the house?

[ellie_may12]

Hi everyone,

I'm a still waiting for my girls to start laying. They are 17 and 20 weeks old. I keep them in their run during the day, but let them out in the yard in the evenings, so they can run and play. My question is this. We have a raised house with a crawl space under it. My girls LOVE to go under there to dust bathe. So, will they lay under there too? My mom had chickens when she was young and said that they will lay where ever they happen to be and that we should put chicken wire around the bottom of the house to keep them out of there.

There is a raised shed next to their coop, but they don't go under there anymore. They do love the dirt under our house though. Thanks!

 

[willowcol]

Yes they will, we had a openning in our foundation and realized a few were laying under the house. We had to close the hole up.

 

[basicliving]

Yes, they very well may lay under there. I would block it off if possible. A friend of ours ended up with broodies under his house - thankfully they hatched out the eggs and nothing got them in the meantime. The opening was big enough for the chickens to get in, but small enough that he couldn't. He just had to wait it out. After they all came out, he blocked it off.

Best of luck,
Penny