Wow are you serious!

[Domestic_goddess]

I love hearing all the stories of chickens hidding thier eggs! In the summer time, I have a few chickens that love to lay in the lilac bushes around my house, but I always find thier eggs!lol..

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
IMO, it shouldn't be. I have two free range flocks. The girls lay in their nestboxes. If they choose not to, they can spend some time getting to know their coop really well. I don't have time for easter egg hunts.

Mine also free range all day - they have 11 acres to wander, scratch and explore.


Every bird returns to their coop to lay. Sometime I see a girl coming in from the back pasture at a run

and you do not want to get in her way as she makes it back to the box in time.

 

[EELover]

I had a dream once that I went to clean out the coop and found a big pile of eggs that they hid. I guess it is not beyond the realm of possibility.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
As everyone else said. . . I've got over 40 girls who free range on a 2 acre pasture, yet they all know, even if they've never truly explored it - They know where the nesting room/building is.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Every bird returns to their coop to lay. Sometime I see a girl coming in from the back pasture at a run and you do not want to get in her way as she makes it back to the box in time.

 

[Eireitalia]

Oh those little stinkers! Well, now you're on to them ....

We have had occasional problems with the hens trying to hide their eggs and it is aggravating!

 

[ScotianChick]

Mine all know where the nest box is

I did have one hiding them for a little while. She was hiding them in my rotten old barn that needs to be torn down. I closed it off to see what she would do. She ran around frantic for quite a while. She was so frantic by the time I came outside, she actually squatted and let me pick her up (never happened) and put her in the nest box. It took some convincing but she eventually went back to laying in there. She's a super big diva though. If ANYONE is in the nest boxes (there are 3 for 5 girls) when she wants to use one, even though they are separated, I have to hear "Bok bok bok bok BA GOK bok bok bok bok BA GOK" for an hour until that other one leaves. My poor neighbours

My husband had a flock before me. They found a way under his shed. One day he was doing yard work and asked me to try to find the eggs. I reached under the shed and there were almost 40 eggs down there! Most were still good. And all different colours too because he had Aracaunas!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

With regard to the OP's question about whether or not to throw the eggs out...

You can put them into a bucket of water. The ones that sink are good. Don't eat the floaters!

 

[Mrs. K]

Anytime you have an unexpected drop in egg production, I will find a hidden nest. Sometimes I let them lay there for a while, but if you block it off, and lock them up for a few days, they will go to laying back in the nests. Do put and leave a fake egg in the nest.

MrsK

 

[shchinchillas]

for whatever reason a few of ours have taken to laying in the hay loft. The first time we found "the spot" we had atleast 2 dozen eggs up there. Only way we found it is we were getting hay--disturbed one of the girls who was up on a very high hay filled shelf and she went flying.

Another hen likes to lay in the oat bin.