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Yes, like the Easter egg hunt every day, isn't it?
First of all, watch them--and listen. When you let them out, watch where they head (especially if you let them out a bit late, and some of them are sort of crossing their legs...). You may have to be out and around quite a bit. Listen for their cackles when someone does lay, and see if you can pinpoint where it's coming from--that will give you an idea where to start looking. You may also (if you are used to tracking) be able to discern a slightly worn track where they enter and leave their nest.
Second, try to think like a chicken. You want a smallish (nest-box-size) spot; not easy to see; preferably hidden and probably dark; ideally with nest material or at least a depression that will hold the eggs. You will want to carry a small flashlight to help you! I found eggs in quite a few places:
--on top, between, and in odd corners of the hay bales in the loft (the eggs sometimes slid down between bales and would surprise me later!)
--one hen even found a hollow way down between bales (she laid for 21 days straight once)
--behind some stacked storm windows and blinds (more than one place!)
--under the roots of an uprooted tree
--inside a cardboard box
--under the top of the hay ladder
--in a corner of a horse stall
--under a clump of weeds or a low branch or a shrub
--on or under stored furniture
--behind the wheel of a piece of farm machinery
--way up on top of a load of hay bales stored on a farm wagon
--inside a rusty steel drum (actually right next to where a wild turkey had nested)
--behind a shovel or leaf rake
Since I couldn't break that lot from hiding eggs everywhere, I simply did a roundabout egg hunt every day to the places I knew they were using, and looked for new ones (looking *down* from the hayloft helped locate some ). I must have looked a bit like the Family Circus cartoon with the map of where the little boy goes on a simple errand!
The only other choice you have is to restrict the hens to the coop/yard for a while so they are forced to lay in the nest boxes, having no other choice. I suspect that once a flock has learned the joys of egg-hiding, though, it's pretty hard to break them of it!
Let us know how it goes--and tell us some of the most ingenious places!
Rhonda
STOP CORPORATE ABUSE--BAN ALL GMOs!
Yes, like the Easter egg hunt every day, isn't it?
First of all, watch them--and listen. When you let them out, watch where they head (especially if you let them out a bit late, and some of them are sort of crossing their legs...). You may have to be out and around quite a bit. Listen for their cackles when someone does lay, and see if you can pinpoint where it's coming from--that will give you an idea where to start looking. You may also (if you are used to tracking) be able to discern a slightly worn track where they enter and leave their nest.
Second, try to think like a chicken. You want a smallish (nest-box-size) spot; not easy to see; preferably hidden and probably dark; ideally with nest material or at least a depression that will hold the eggs. You will want to carry a small flashlight to help you! I found eggs in quite a few places:
--on top, between, and in odd corners of the hay bales in the loft (the eggs sometimes slid down between bales and would surprise me later!)
--one hen even found a hollow way down between bales (she laid for 21 days straight once)
--behind some stacked storm windows and blinds (more than one place!)
--under the roots of an uprooted tree
--inside a cardboard box
--under the top of the hay ladder
--in a corner of a horse stall
--under a clump of weeds or a low branch or a shrub
--on or under stored furniture
--behind the wheel of a piece of farm machinery
--way up on top of a load of hay bales stored on a farm wagon
--inside a rusty steel drum (actually right next to where a wild turkey had nested)
--behind a shovel or leaf rake
Since I couldn't break that lot from hiding eggs everywhere, I simply did a roundabout egg hunt every day to the places I knew they were using, and looked for new ones (looking *down* from the hayloft helped locate some ). I must have looked a bit like the Family Circus cartoon with the map of where the little boy goes on a simple errand!
The only other choice you have is to restrict the hens to the coop/yard for a while so they are forced to lay in the nest boxes, having no other choice. I suspect that once a flock has learned the joys of egg-hiding, though, it's pretty hard to break them of it!
Let us know how it goes--and tell us some of the most ingenious places!
Rhonda
STOP CORPORATE ABUSE--BAN ALL GMOs!
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Posted by: sidesaddle5@yahoo.com
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