Hens laying away

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Hello everyone

One of my Welsummers lays away from her henhouse. She found a spot under my trailer just after I got them and regularly lays an egg there (this is the ninja disappearing hen I mentioned when I first joined!) I take it that this is just a hen thing that they do and I'm happy that they seem happy.

I checked my bantams house today and found two eggs in there. They definitely didn't come from Mrs Bantam as they're fullsized brown eggs so one of the Welsummers has been cheeky and laid them there.

Does this suggest the hens don't like/aren't comfortable laying in their own house? It looks like a wooden wendy house with perches added but it doesn't have any dedicated nesting boxes inside. Would making some improve things? I still regularly get an egg in there every other day so at least one of them seems happy.

Even though wee Mr Bantam is doing a valiant job of sticking up for himself and his missus, I'd rather they all kept to their own homes. I don't want the big hens invading the bantams house as they'd been picked on when I first got them. They all seem quite happy together now, things have settled down re sorting the pecking order between them all, I'd just like it to stay settled.

I'm assuming it will knock them off laying for a while until they get used to it but I'm planning on making a new hen house for them. I'll be giving away the wendy house to a friend so he can get some more hens and I'll make sure there's some decent nesting boxes as well as perches in the new one. Hopefully this will do the trick?


Regards

Osric
 
sometimes they just love one particular area to lay in
my hubbys hens have beautiful nest boxes to lay in but most of them lay under an old shower tray on a pallet ( sounds rediculous i know lol
 
Yes,remember your description of your ninja hen lol.Making some nest boxes for your Welsummers could stop them laying in the bantams house,hens are supposed to prefer laying in a dark secure nest box.As for ninja hen,she may always prefer to lay under your trailer.
Quite often,even though hens have plenty of nest boxes,they will all prefer to lay in the same nest box.
Your hens are happy,if they were un-happy they wouldn't lay at all.
 
It's interesting how they seem to like one house over another - My guess is that (being creatures of habbit) if you provide a 'good' nestbox (in the eyes of a hen) in lots of locations, she will pick one that suits her and then stick to it.

My hens are moved around houses / runs during the Winter / Summer months according to the state of the grass but I do try to put a crock egg or two in a 'new' house to get them to lay there after a move to (possibly) the other end of the field.

Usually chooks will see eggs in a nest and think that must be a good place to lay my eggs too... :D

My guess is the only way to ensure they lay where they should would be to firstly ensure their nestboxes are big enough, dark enough and private enough, then confine them to their respective areas so that they lay in them. Once they are released, they should keep going back to where they know (creatures of habbit :roll: ) to lay.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I can relax a bit now but it looks like I can't move my trailer unless I upset the ninja!

Speaking of ninjas...

Wee Mr Bantam is turning into a bit of a hooligan. My friend (who gave me the hens in the first place) fed them for me over the weekend while I was away. He ended up being on the receiving end of a small feathered flying kick. Mr B also pecked my hand this morning because I had the audacity to stroke his missus!

Just as well the little swine is cute and makes me laugh... ;)
 
a few of my pekins like to peck at my hands, never hard, just warning pecks, i just gently push them away when they do it, as a form of admonishment. and to tell him i will win as im bigger
 
Hmmmmn,I'm lucky,Bertie Bantam hasn't started to behave like this yet.He is only 8-9 months old,so he may start at some point.
I do pick his hens up,every day in front of him,and pick him up last.In the hopes that he will look at this as part of life/routine.When I first had him,he didn't like me picking his wife up,but he never pecked,just shouted in horror and leapt around as he was worried,he wanted to protect her and thought I was a threat.Now,I can carry her anywhere with out him batting an eye lid.
 
I think this one is just a bad dude!

He's being renamed Rambant! :)

He pecked my hand and my boot this morning, little swine! I hope he doesn't lose his charm, I look forward to getting up in the morning to see what he's going to do next :D
 
It always amuses us where hen's lay. We have three large(ish) houses which can house upto 30 Hens each. Some nights half the flock decide to roost in one house. (I bet they are having a party after light out).

In the morning when we open the pop holes hens start rushing to their preferred laying house which is often not the one they roosted in.

Some days a nest box will have no eggs, another day, a couple of dozen. We also get clutches of eggs in unusual places such as the Sheep Shelter or their manger, or in various hidey holes.

As Mrs Bantam hatched two hens eggs, I guess they aren't too fussy.
 
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