Yesterday while I was busy around the place I noticed one of the chickens trying to get in the hay tent. We have one of those large ugly tents that use to cover Hubby's trailer (until someone stole it in Vegas) and is now full to the brim with hay. So now I call it the hay tent. Anyway the chicken ducked under the bottom edge. I had long suspected that a hen or two was laying in there but couldn't find any eggs after a lot of crawling around on the bales and sticking my hand into places a rat could hide. So when I saw her go in I decided to spy on her. I peeked in but all I saw was a chicken trying to look as nonchalant as possible with one eyeball on me. So I raked a bit more and took another peek just in time to see her drop into the stack of truck tires my son left in there.Aw Ha! She was laying in the tires. What is my hens' fascination with tires? Here she had nest boxes full of hay and even hay full of hay to lay in and she chose the tires that are stacked four high and have rocks on the bottom. I took a peek inside after she was done and this is what I saw.
I know that she will not be dissuaded at this point from going in there and laying so I figure if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
I took out all the old eggs, put clean hay in the bottom and added one egg (with a mark on it), to keep her laying there. I just will have one more place to check for eggs.
Just like an Easter Egg hunt.
And as always........ a little help.
8 comments:
This is so funny!!........I can just picture a nonchalant chicken and you spying on her...LOL!!
The kitties are soooo CUTE :)
We built a "chicken condo" for our chickens with beautiful nest boxes...so where do they choose to lay? In the corner of a stall, in a hay feeder....I try to think of it as an easter egg hunt and have some fun but sometimes it's downright annoying!!:)
Awww, your furry helpers are so cute :)
Funny about your hens laying in the truck tires. And quite deep, too. What do they do, flip and flap out? I wonder if they ever have trouble and get stuck?
We have 4 comfy nest boxes with convenient (for us) doors to the outside, but our most of our hens decided that a corner of the hen house was much nicer to lay eggs in instead.
It was quite a pain trying to scoop out the eggs, though, and many got broken because our chickens could step on them and they'd rool around.
So, I, like you, decided to go along with their nest-box-of-choice, but with a little compromise.
I placed a large wooden basket in that corner filled with soft straw.
Now my eggs don't get broken, I can pick the basket up to empty out the eggs, and best of all: the hens are happy :)
hehe
Silly chickens. :)
~Lisa
Boy, your girls really like their privacy, don't they! Ya can't get much more private than hiding in a 4' stack of old rubber tires, that's for sure. lol
Glad you found the stash, though. Does this account for the hens you thought were "slacking" or is there another hiding place yet to be uncovered?
I am still smiling, after reading your post! What an interesting blog you have. I have some goats and chickens, so needless to say, I love reading about other's exeriences! I can't wait till your next post!
Juri
Farmgirl, I think it accounts for one slacker and my girls are up to about 7 eggs a day after their little "holiday". Believe it or not those tires aren't that old just dirty. My son took them off his truck right away and put on some fancy tires so I am hanging on to those just in case he needs them. The smokey Americauna thinks they make a perfect nest.
Have I told you lately "I love my chickens"??
Juri, Welcome to my blog. I am glad you enjoy my tales. I stopped in at your place and saw many cute animals there too. They give us a lot to write about, don't they.
Cute story, I enjoy your all your animal tales!
What better place to have some down time then in a stack of tires....she didnt have to worry about anyone wanting in on her alone time...well, till you just found her anyway!
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