Find Where Your Hen Lays Eggs
Invented by American farmer housewives,[citation needed] this trick allows you to trace your hen's footsteps to her hidden nest, where her eggs would otherwise rot. When you know your hen lays eggs somewhere but you do not know where, do the following.
Steps
- Get a full-size seed of black pepper.
- Catch your suspected hen and place the hen in a pen on her own she might be broody this meaning that she is a fake mother and wants to sit on her eggs, however without a cockerel in the flock she won't be able to hatch the eggs so collect the egg she lays every day.
- Stick the pepper seed under the hen's tail. Note that this is the rectum.
- Know that the itching will make the hen think that she needs to lay an egg, so she will run to her hidden nest. Follow her and collect the eggs.
Tips
- To help stop your hens laying in places other then the nest boxes, you can keep them in their run until about midday. They will lay almost all their eggs by that time and you can let them free-range in the afternoon.
- You can lay wooden eggs, found at hobby shops, in the nesting boxes - it kind of fools the hens. After they're all laying in the boxes, remove the wooden eggs.
Warnings
- Watch for the eggs that are already rotten: put them all in a bucket of water - those that float are really bad.
- Roosters can get jealous and may attack you when you are chasing the hen.
Things You'll Need
- Matured Hen(s)
- Full-size seed of black pepper
