You found what?

[JodyJo]

So my hens had tappered off with laying...OR SO I THOUGHT.....

My hubby found THIS this morning...

These are either from a couple of days last fall, when the run door was shut by accident and my girls couldn't get to the nests, OR
they are still laying up to par but hiding them in the hay stack...

They are all getting scrambled up and fed back tomorrow, when they thaw...

Now I have to check the hay every day to make sure they don't go back on lock down!

 

[trailchick]

Yeah, I found a stack like that, (14 together actually) in the haystack about a month ago.
Mine were not broken. Found another 2 groups in the weeds by the garden, again
not broken-but figured all were old.

It had been pretty cold at night (low 20's) so I boiled em up and gave em back.
They actually looked good enough to probably eat- the hens got em. So I figured
the cold kept them from going bad....

Have since made 2nd pen for the 2nd coop and added more nest boxes, I think
I fixed the problem bc I am starting to get eggs again after tapering off from
the dark days of winter.

Hope you can fix your "problem".

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
He found 12...most were frozen and broken open, we are still sub zero here in Colorado...I don't mind feeding them back, they ADORE scrambled eggs....
I thought I had broken them of the hidden nests...I have 3 EE's ready to lay..not sure they will now, in the winter or wait till spring. I am watching for greenish
eggs....it was just funny, I always ask him "find any eggs"? today he said, Yes, 12!

 

[trailchick]

Ohh, you must be high up.....

We on the plain only had single digit during the week of christmas,
but did get 17" of snow on the 22nd, which is still on the ground &
it has kept us cold.

I had to keep them locked up in the pen & provide improved nestboxes
to change their habit... Plus I locked up the garden fence & fed all the hay
stacked & tarped to the horses. That really helped.
Come spring it may be another story.

There was almost no laying from early-mid Dec. until a few days ago.
I surely understand - I call this time "My DArk PEriod" !!!!!!!
I guess in chicken talk it is for them, too!!! I will feel much better
in another 2 weeks!

I have a few young ones too - don't know when they will start.

 

[JodyJo]

Quote:
we are at almost 8000...
My nest boxes, I covered with curtains (for privacy!) last time they wandered...
We have hundreds of bales of hay, cannot cover them, pointess with how many we have to feed
daily to our cattle and horses...way too much work to recover them...besides, these eggs
were tunneled into the stack, not sure how they managed to get inside the stack like they
did!

I am ready for spring also!!

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

Hey JodyJo,

We're at about 8,000ft too, West of Colorado Springs and had some really cold weather a few weeks back, but has been up in the 40s for several days right after Christmas. Bummer about the frozen eggs. My girls have laid the occasional one out in the run or several times I've found one broken on the floor of the coop, but as far as I know, they seem to like their next boxes.

I hope you can break them of this.