My ladies have been on an egg strike this winter, but considering they are in their third laying season, I wasn’t at all surprised. It’s common to see a decrease in egg production after two seasons, but to completely stop laying did seem a little drastic.

Their nests were empty day after day, after awhile I just decided to love my freeloading ladies just the same. I didn’t go on any egg hunts, for years my hens have laid their eggs in exactly the same place.

This morning I noticed my polish hen Penny was not at the gate waiting for her breakfast. I called her and there was no response, odd, I thought. Usually I’m tripping over her every single morning. My immediate gut feeling was she died, and I dreaded that walk to the coop to look. I lifted the roof of her coop and it was empty. There’s another coop in the yard from a previous flock, but nobody ever goes in there, I checked anyway.

I pulled back the tarps and slowly lifted the roof worried about what I’d find. There she was! My Penny was sitting quietly in the corner. Of course I was happy to see she was at least thinking about laying again, but I didn’t expect to find a stash of eggs under her!  I know I’ve preached over and over about how hens often stray from their nest area and pick a new place. Well, this time I should have taken my own advice and gone on my own egg hunt. Apparently my ladies have moved, this is what I found under Penny. Shame on me!