Searching for eggs daily

CraftyTera

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Anyone else's hens trying to turn every day into an Easter egg hunt?

I have 9 hens and a rooster who can leave their pen and comfy nest boxes to roam a large fenced field they share with some of my goats. My horse barn is in the same field although the horses are out of the barn before the chickens come out.

Yesterday I found 1 egg in the nest boxes, 1 in a horse's feed pan, one on the floor of the goat's stall, and 1 between the bales in my hay room. If they are out, I never know if I found all the eggs. If I lock them in, they lay happily in the nest boxes, but I don't want to do that. The boxes are clean and soft with hay. Any suggestions to minimize the daily egg hunt?
 

ClissAT

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Some things that I found important for my ex free range farm birds are:-

1. Make sure the nest is a bit dark like a log hollow.
2. Some hens like to go under a bush so try hanging leafy branches over the entrance to the nest boxes.
3. As they lay their egg they raise their tails right up and dislike having the feathers touch the top of the nest so be sure it is tall enough.
4. Other hens like their nesting spot to be high so be sure to include some higher boxes.
5. Often, one hen is bossy and hogs the best nest box so the other hens wait to go elsewhere.
6. Make sure the hay is fresh with no minute creepy crawlies living in it that might infest the hens while they sit.
7. Don't let the hens out until lunchtime so they have had maximum opportunity to lay in the boxes and get used to them.
8. The nest box most preferred by my hens was an old quite large plastic lawn clipping catcher off a lawn mower. The top was high, the sides were plastic mesh but the opening was smaller where it would have clipped onto the back of the mower so it was like going into a log or rock hollow. It was very hard to see them in there but they had great vantage out because I put it right up on-top of the 3tier office drawers that I made the rest of the nesting boxes out of.
9. At this time of year some hens will be preparing to go clucky so they might be looking for somewhere to lay their clutch in anycase. Even more reason not to let them out until they've all laid for the day.

There might be many other reasons as well but these things seemed important to my hens.
 

CraftyTera

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Thanks. I will try the "not out until noon" thing. I've covered most of the others. I have high and low nest boxes, 5 for 9 hens so there shouldn't be much waiting. I replace the hay in the boxes frequently. Most are fairly dark and high enough not to touch their tails.

I don't have any nest boxes similar to the weirdest place that they lay. They go back 3 feet, through a tunnel between hay bales barely wider than their bodies to a spot about the size of their main nest boxes. It is like they are going in a den. Personally, I was beginning to think they just enjoy messing with me :)
 
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