Thursday, April 1, 2010

The ducks are hiding all the eggs

and driving me completely batty!

The girls were doing so well. Laying two to three eggs a day (so good!). I had a bunch of eggs in the fridge. And then, BOOM, all of the sudden, no eggs at all. What the heck?!

I look all over the yard. Couldn't find any nests with eggs in them. *scratching my head* Hmmm..... What in the world is going on? They sure LOOK like they have eggs in them. So they must have the eggs somewhere in the yard.

Two more days, no eggs. I hunt the yard again. Finally find ONE nest in the bamboo, there are four eggs in it. I steal the cleanest one (it's still morning, I figure that's the one she laid that day). Leave the rest. I don't want any rotten ones. Ewww..

I've started leaving them in the pen later and later in the morning. Instead of letting them out at 7am, I leave them in until 8....and now, until 9. I got ONE egg in the pen today. What is going on??

Took out grain for them this morning, and the dog runs out in the middle of the yard with a "ball" in his mouth. Wha?? He found an egg! Not sure where he found it. I took it from him. A few minutes later, he comes out with ANOTHER one. I take it away from him. A bit later, another one.

He finds a total of FIVE EGGS this morning (he broke two of them). I found one under the deck. Of course, it would be in the middle of the deck, and while trying to get it out---picture it, I am lying on my stomach, on a blanket in the mud, with a long rake--- I broke the shell. Why did I bother??

Sad to say, the dog does a better job of finding eggs in the yard than I do.

If anyone has a better tip on how to discourage the hens from hiding their eggs (other than keeping them locked up all day, I want them to forage!), I would LOVE to hear it! There are simply too many hiding spots for them in my yard.....

3 comments:

  1. Stewart said "they are worried because it is Easter and they don't want their eggs to go with the easter bunny"

    Me I suggest putting something around the deck so they can't get under there to hid their eggs.

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  2. We've thought about that. I hate the look of chicken wire and cheap lattice (picky, picky), so it's an expense and time issue. Not to mention, there are SO MANY other places in the yard that they could hide them!

    I left them in the pen until 9:30 today (half-hour longer than yesterday, poor things), and got three eggs today. I knew they were holding out on me! Boogers. I guess I will just have to be a bit mean to them.

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  3. I was wondering if that was the case.

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