# Laying outside the coop...



## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

We have a fake well built over our well pump in our side yard. Our daughter loves to sing into it like Snow White... My husband was doing some cleaning up today and found this inside of it :









I have been saying for a couple of weeks now that I thought she was laying somewhere else. She sings an egg song but nothing would be in the nesting boxes. Is there a way to break this habit? Now that I know she's laying there I will check it daily.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

Lock down the whole flock for a week to train to the nests and place wire or netting over this well. Keep a count of your eggs and if you are seeing consistently less and there is no other reason for it such as molting, broodiness, etc., then go hunting for nests. 

That's the one downside to free ranging...sometimes you don't get to keep all the eggs and you have to be very mindful of where they are laying.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

It's too hot to lock them in right now. Once the temps consistently drop below 70 I will lock them in for a week and put some fake eggs in. I'm pretty sure it's just one that is laying in there. I see 3 of my other girls in the coop and some still aren't laying yet. For now I will just check there every day.


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## FarmRookie (Apr 18, 2013)

They know what they like. I would just check there every day. No harm done.


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## kjohnstone (Mar 30, 2013)

Yeah, now that they are free, some of my girls are nesting elsewhere. I'll have to put them back in lockdown until after noon, get them back in the habit of laying in a.m. IN the nesting boxes. Found one nest w/3 blue eggs...that would be Hawkeye. Trouble and I are getting along pretty good now, as long as I don't try to touch her...She still lays in the pen, voluntarily, and doesn't give me the stinkeye anymore. A couple of weeks ago, before I put up the last piece of fence to keep them in my yard, she squeezed past me and got out. She is so wary and wiley, I knew I had no chance of catching her, so I just walked back to the house and left her there. Actually forgot about her for over an hour. When I went back out into the garage before going out the back, I could hear these soft, single clucks, questing. She was distressed. I went out the back toward the pen, turned around and called her (she was near the front of the garage), and she came running. Followed me back to the pen. I opened the door for her and she trotted right in and now doesn't try to get past me. Now I can feed her grapes with just thumb and forefinger without her biting my fingers. She and I understand each other now.


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## GenFoe (Apr 3, 2013)

Well I had 4 eggs in the nesting boxes today and none in the well. Maybe breaking up that clutch of eggs has encouraged them to lay in the coop now? Here's hoping!


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