Hunt the eggs!

[Job]

we have had our chickens,( 3 blackrocks,2 speckledys,3 cream legbars ) 8 weeks now and keep on finding caches of eggs in different spots around their fenced paddock,under the holly bushes etc my 15 month old daughter thinks it very funny to help mummy crawl around everyday!Any suggestions as to how to encourage all of them to lay in the hen house?
Also we have 1 of the cream legbars who is not laying yet the others have all started 2-3 weeks ago should i be worried? all of them were brought as point of lay at the same time.

Thanks for any suggestions
Jo

[janeyo]

If they are young and only just coming into lay I think the urge to lay overwhelms them and they just do it wherever they are!

We put a golf ball in the nest box and within a week all 3 of our girls were laying there and not in the coop.

They do like the nest box to be as dark as poss so make sure it is, maybe by putting a screen up if it is not quite to their liking!

I am sure they will soon get the hang of doing it in the right place!

janeyo

[yoanbob]

Have you tried pot eggs (they are usually made of plastic these days) you can get them on the net for about £1 each, and you put them in the nest box where you want them to lay, it worked for us.
I wouldnt worry yet about the legbar, there is time yet.

[vicky]

Cream Legbars are one of the breeds that come into lay late.
I suppose you could confine them till they've laid in the morning, but that rather defies the point! Train the baby to do the collecting for you?