Chickens And Egg Laying

[taichiperson]

Our neighbours have 5 chickens, and let them roam free during the day. They come into our garden, and my neighbour has said that it's fine for us to keep any eggs they lay here. We recently found a little clutch of eggs in a sheltered pile of dry leaves. The eggs are all brown (one of the hens lays beautiful blue eggs) but some are large and dark, others are smaller and lighter. What I'd like to ask is - is it likely that it's more than one hen laying in the same place? Does one hen lay the same colour same size eggs, or more mixed? Should we remove all the eggs, or leave one? I wondered whether removing them would discourage them from laying more.

[RATTER15]

Each hen will only lay one colour egg and usually the same size, young chickens will lay smaller eggs but they soon lay full size eggs. If the chickens are happy laying there they may well continue, they may also just move on and lay elsewhere. leaving an egg may encourage them to continue, just mark the egg so you know which one is the oldest one.

[taichiperson]

Thanks Ratter. Does the shade of the egg that one hen lays vary? We have a lovely fresh egg this morning, still warm :)

[Quoi]

Hens lay bigger eggs as they get older. Its not unusual to see more than one hen lay in the same place.
Do they have a cockerel? There is a possibility of some of the eggs being part developed.
I wouldnt leave any eggs there as it will encourage the hen to sit on them eventually.

[RATTER15]

As long as the eggs are collected regularly then the development of an egg really isn't a problem for anybody. and the shade or colour of the egg will not usually vary noticeably. and you almost certainly have more than one hen laying in the same nest which is quite normal, they usually share nesting boxes in a coop as well.

[RATTER15]

As for blue eggs, I keep a few "Cream Legbars" that lay lovely blue eggs.

[RATTER15]

Scrivens, I think my cream legbars are about my most reliable layers.

[AB Editor]

Did you have it with soldiers? It's the best thing, a fresh egg with soldiers and tons of butter.

You can buy fake eggs from the Next home section. My friend uses them to encourage their old birds to lay. It worked for a little while!

[RATTER15]

Ed, you can also use golf balls to encourage them to lay in a particular nest but generally they nest where they want. They usually choose a spot that is quiet and where they wont be disturbed, chickens can be a bit shy about where they lay.

[RATTER15]

We have open nesting boxes that they lay in in their coop but we also have a few that lay in various places around the farm, we have two that lift up and climb in under a broken cardboard box to lay, we know where they lay so we can still collect the eggs daily, occasionally we find a new site with 20+ plus eggs in it though. They usually give the game away to new nest sites due to all the noise they make when laying.

[taichiperson]

Thanks for all your answers. I'm not usually fond of runny yolks, but I've discovered that fresh are much nicer (mind you, I often keep bought eggs for weeks) There is no cockerel with the hens - for which I'm glad, the farm a little way off from us had one a while ago and we found it annoying. We had been thinking of having hens ourselves, but this way we get eggs with none of the responsibility of looking after them! They can be a little destructive, but we are learning to hen proof any vulnerable areas, and our garden is large enough for them to spread out.

[RATTER15]

I have 5 cockerels and I love to hear them crow in the mornings, I must admit that one used to crow at 4am, that was a just a little early lol. Yes hens can decimate a flower bed or a lawn in no time.

[RATTER15]

I keep breed cockerels for breeding hens, I do like my breeds.

[taichiperson]

We first had the idea of keeping hens when we discovered that they discourage ticks - Mr taichiperson is sensitive and can become ill after being bitten. How do they impact on the mouse population, Scrivens? We sometimes have mice come into the house, but shrews and voles can also make a visit - are they vulnerable to the presence of hens too?

[Barmaid]

Hens are omnivores taichi. If they see a mouse, they will fight over it and tear it apart. The same with frogs etc. Mine have even taken a kill off the cats.

I'm not sure about hens preventing ticks. They are susceptible to red mites (and boy has it been a good year for red mites). They can deliver you a bite - although only if you handle the birds or spend a lot of time in their hen house.