I’m always writing about how fascinating it is watching our farm birds – chickens and guinea hens – doing their things around the yard. It’s like a little soap opera at times in how they interact with each other. I thought it would be fun to tell some of the little stories of things that go on.
I wrote over the summer about the “Never-Ending Easter Egg Hunt“, about how the free-ranging chickens had us hunting everywhere to figure out where they were laying their eggs, since it wasn’t in the nesting boxes in the coop where they are supposed to lay! Now with the cooler weather they seem to be using the nesting boxes more, but we still wonder if there are more out there somewhere. The newest girls have started laying, and at least one of them has taken pity on us always wandering around the yard hunting for hidden nests. She doesn’t want to lay her egg in the nesting boxes either, but instead of hiding them, she just lays them here, there, and everywhere. We’ve found them on the middle of the lawn, in the driveway, outside the chicken run, on the garage floor, in the middle of the coop floor, and even down under the apple trees. The funny thing is, I always see her in the nesting boxes, and on occasion she does lay it there. But most of the time I see her in the box, go back to check, and no egg. Then I look around the yard and find it!
We know it’s her because of the color of the egg and from observing things. It’s always a white egg we find. By the way, we are still not getting as many eggs as I think we should; but the older girls are molting, and along with the shortening days, that’s a big factor. Not all the new girls are laying yet, but they have at least picked up some of the slack.
No matter how it’s done, egg drop, egg hunt, or finding the eggs in the nesting boxes where they belong, I really find it a fun game, and enjoy this part of poultry farming!
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Wow dat takes egg hunting to a whole new level 😉
xoxo,
Matt & Matilda
It sure does – the fun never ends!! 🙂
Oh, those birds do keep you on your toes,don’t they? LOL
I think they do it on purpose! LOL
Do the chickens care that you take their eggs?
Most of the time, no. We can even reach under them to check sometimes. But, there are occasions where they will let out a bit of a screech when I try that, so that’s when I know to back off!!
BTW, the only reason we would bother them is because sometimes the eggs get dirty or broken if they are going in and out of the boxes; or in the winter we need to collect them quickly so they don’t freeze.
Easter egg hunt all year long. Love the photos.
Poor Martha….she was just an innocent bystander. LOL.
Easter is every day at your house! I love hearing about the different personalities and it fascinates me, just as it does with dogs and cats!
I had no idea these birds would have such personalities!!
Many years ago one of our neighbours had chickens, and sometimes they would come and lay their eggs under our shrubs! MOL! These ones laid blue eggs..though I do not remember what kind they were, he had red ones, brown ones and white ones.
We have two now that are laying green eggs, and hopefully will get one more that does so (or they could be blue). It is usually the Auracana, or Ameracauna as they call them, also called Olive Eggers or Easter Eggers, that lay the colored ones!
Sounds like the girls like to keep things interesting around the farm. 🥚🐔
It’s like it’s their job. LOL
I had no idea hens could go rogue laying eggs! I’ll bet they are snickering when they see you on the hunt, and that Martha is the instigator of it all! 🙂
Hahaha, you might be right about that!! Martha is quite a character, and she’s always into some kind of trouble!!
Egg hunting does sound fun 🙂
I hadn’t done it since I was a kid!! 🙂
It sounds like quite a game, i wonder if there is a way to entice them to lay where they are supposed to.
We do everything we can to entice them….fresh straw, fresh herbs in the boxes, and we even put curtains on some of them!
I think hens are born with a wicked sense of humor.
I think you might be right about that!!
Sounds like life on the farm is always entertaining! 🙂
It’s never a dull moment!! 🙂
I agree, an egg hunt sounds fun and keeps everyone guessing!
A daily Easter egg hunt must be lots of fun☺
How funny! I didn’t know chickens did that with their eggs, all the t.v. shows have them snug in their nests laying eggs and you just go pick them up. I really need to remember t.v. shows are not fact – MOL!
I had no idea either!! They don’t tell you this stuff!
We never had chicks that laid eggs when I was growing up. Just chicks that went in the freezer. I always enjoyed watching them though. They are so cute.
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Ah, I see! We talked about getting “meat birds”; but I don’t like the way they’ve now bred them to produce, their quality of life is very poor for the time they’re here. It probably wasn’t like that when you were a kid.
oue egg-guy has this problem too, he is on egg hunt with his new chicken like crazy… and it happens that he finds the eggs to late and they are still we ya know… eeew….
That is no fun!! It happened to us once….now we check every egg we’re not sure about for freshness!
That would be a real project having to hunt for the eggs all the time. Too bad they won’t just lay them in the nesting boxes like they are supposed to. I would guess in the winter they lay them there more.
Yes, you are right, Madison. They will use their nesting boxes more in the winter.
I don’t mind hunting for the eggs so much, it’s just when I can’t find any that I get frustrated! These birds have so many excuses for not laying well! Shorter days, molting, it’s too hot in the summer and cold in the winter – always something with them! LOL