Two days in a row now I've gone out to the barn and found one of the favored laying spots with egg in, carefully covered up. Preparatory to setting to you think? Do they hide 'em?
Covering eggs?!
Look around and see if they are watching you.. while they snicker.. LOL
ppblphlbhl....:-p....
strangest behavior. done the same way 2 days running. At first I thought it was just something that happened...
Must be hiding them from the fox!
We have hens that insist on laying in a corner. Somebody sits on them until I move them off & pick up the eggs. About 4 or 5 as day that way.
One of the Americana's is clucking. But she sits in a roll out nest. Never an egg under her. Funny.
Bernie
Sorry, just had to be a comedian..
Really, I'm not sure why they would do that.. My guess would be protecting from a predator? Strange!
Guess I was hoping somebody wanted to set!!
I think, possibly, you attribute slightly more "intelligence" than is due to our poor feathered friends. They are smart about some things, but hiding eggs so that you won't collect them so that they can set....well, that might be a bit to much processing for the ol' poppy-seed-sized chicken brain. Well....maybe sesame seed size.
I think somebody just re-adjusts the nest to their liking and covers up an egg in the process.
I do love my girls, but not because they're brilliant. No offense to any chickens with a 4.0 GPA of course.
They cover their eggs to hide them from the other hens too. This way only they lay in that nest. Hens will tend to lay eggs where there are other eggs. I've watched certain hens that do this all the time. One even seems to know if there is an egg that isn't hers and will kick it out. DUcks do this too untill they get all their eggs laid and start to set. I think it's a combination of instinctual preditor protection, protection from other hens laying and a warmth thing. I love watching them carefully uncovering them to add new ones.
I was thinking genetics actually. They are burying 5 eggs and completely erasing the nest...
That's the missing link I was looking for Jyl! My thanks!!
Never underestimate instinct. Thousands of years of evolution is often better than thought processes.
Have you ever seen a huming bird attach tiny bits of lichen that exactly matches the color of what is already on the tree to her nest? Or a killdeer faking a wing injury to lead preditors away from her nest. They only do that behavoir when they are nesting. I have watched ducks move a piece of cardboard over their nest so they can go for a swim while their nest is hidden and warm. Robins and other birds will carry the eggshells away after they hatch so preditors won't suspect there is a nest in the tree. The hatchlings deficate in a sack like manner and the mother carries it off to drop elsewhere, preferably in water to hide the scent. I have even watched turtles excavate and cover decoy nests to hide the real one.
Brain size means nothing when it comes to maternal instincts and preservation of the young.
I was being a little tongue-in-cheek Jyl, but your point is more than valid.
I don't think they are specifically hiding their eggs from Grownut, but I could be wrong.
I predate upon P&L buddies and my girls DO know that, lol...
What an odd thought. It never occured to me that my girls might think of me as a preditor. Not only do I take their eggs, but i dispatch a few of their community now and then. The must think I use the food for Bait!
I've had three pullets that watched closely when I removed eggs and then started laying somewhere else. All the others don't seem to mind--but my Delaware, Delphine, Buckeye/Leghorn cross, Treacle and Nankin, Pekoe--all took exception to my predations. It is strange--because you can tell they are irritated--they come right up and watch closely, give you a hard look and then never lay there again.
WOW, curious behavior. I have never seen egg covering myself. (only covered by feathery chicken butts!) hehehe My three broody pants probably think of me as the nicest preditor there is. Even broody they come running when I have breed treats. Then I take thier eggs and they get mad, but still sit on air. Humph!!! They just wont stop. When (if) nice weather gets here I am going to put them in the tractor awhile to cool them off. :/
Grow, keep us updated on the hidden nest. It sure is interesting!!!
I've seen that behavior with my duck. She always tucks her egg in and after a few days of them disappearing(me, gathering them) she moves her nest. So it's always, ok, where did she move her nest to now! She was laying in the nesting boxes for abit but now it's floor nests that she's making. Even having golfballs in the nest doesn't fool her.
I agree with Claire your giveing them more credit than you should. I have mine do the lay and egg them a hen comes and covers the other egg and lays hers. It could the searching for bugs mine tear up thier nest so much i stopped putting straw in cause they were breaking the eggs. It sounds like yours is just scratching in the nest and it's normal.
Now if you disturb the nest they will go and make another and it's just not wanting you messin with it
I wonder what the Red Jungle Fowl does? Maybe it is an atavistic activity that only some individual chickens express?
Could be right Catscan - I haven't seen this in any of my hens yet, but my nesting boxes are in a bank of 12, and they seem to switch around which one is the "popular" site of the day for laying. Usually it's 2 or 3 boxes only. Sometimes an egg is covered, but I always assume it's from the fact that several hens have used the nest and somebody covered an egg during their renovation of the nest area!
Same here Claire, I have a couple pullets that insist on one nest then the others they just go to the popular for that day. Oh there is a waiting line of about 12 or so just a hollering at the ones in the nests of the day to hurry up it is my turn.
This was five eggs, well covered, nest intact. 2 days running. Had anything been at all messy I would have thought "messy hen" Just reminded me a little of the girl hiding in the hedge, slowly stockpiling eggs...
Hmmmmmm??
I had two arericaunas that we called the bandits. For some odd reason, we didn't put them in with the other chickens, but left them loose in the yard. It became a game to find their eggs each day. As soon as I would find where they were laying and took the eggs, they would find a new spot. I didn't find any eggs for about a month, no matter how hard I looked and assumed that they had stopped laying. Eventually they ended up ub the chicken pen with the others and I thought no more about their eggs.
In November I was putting up christmas decorations and went into the back of the garden shed to retrieve the lighted deer for the yard. When I moved everything to get to the corner where they were, I found a huge pile of eggs. There must have been at least fifty or more, stacked like a pyrimid. In order to have put them there, the hens had to go over a 5 foot fence, across the yard, squeeze through a tiny gap in the shed door, deposite their eggs and go back to the back yard again. I never once noticed them on the other side of the fence.
In order for a chicken to hide eggs like yours, they need to be a broody type hen. I've never had them try to cover or hide eggs in nest boxes, it is always away from the others. I have one silkie who will go all the way across the garden to get straw for her nest when she is going broody. The rest of the time she will just drop them in the ususal crate with the other hens. She builds her nest with the straw and covers the eggs each time she leaves the nest. She is the best biddy I have and has raised several clutches for me. I've tried adding other eggs to her nests and she will kick them out even if they look like hers. I have no clue how she knows!
I'm picturing a hen sitting on top a pyramid of eggs LOL
Looked up red jungle fowl. They dig and create nests on the ground in areas with enough undergrowth to hide the nest well. I know hiding the nest is a basic instinct. Just don't know whether that would extend to egg covering. It makes sense and there are other birds which do it. Either that or I have one bird with a LOT of personality. Maybe OCD.
Grow i was told that by a good friend of mine he said his grandfather told him to put a shovel full of dirt in the nest for moisture. He said chickens are from the wild and it's their instinct to make a nest in the ground. I myself have seen my hens scratch and dig in the nest box till the eggs are on the bottom. He said since he had been doing it he got just about 100% hatch. I wondered if when i saw this would they if allowed dig a hole and lay their eggs in this depression on the ground.
This brings to my thoughts that if thats where the moisture comes into play and it insures all the eggs hatch.
So by us putting them on straw when they set eggs if this was why all the eggs don't hatch. Lack of moisture or as we call it Humidity.
(Hey just my mind working on theories about things i should of been a scientist)
All my straw nests have indeed been in the ground or a wine box on the ground. Free range chickens who can get out in the dew in the morning will pick up moisture on their feathers to take back to the nest. My banties will dig fairly deep holes to dust bathe in the moist soil. I wonder if that is to bring the required humidity back to the nest?
Ducks will run to the water and bathe, then back to the nest and the one duck I had in a situation when she didn't have enough water to do this, had a very poor hatch.
After trying to incubate eggs in the incubator with lousy success, I have a lot more respect for small brained chickens. Studies have shown that chickens actually have the intelligence of dogs and I can believe it of certain birds. When I was a child, my father wouldn't let me have a puppy, so when an Easter chick came along, I jumped at the chance. The silly bird played hide and seek ( he would actually come find me or hide while I looked for him), played fetch, dead, begged for treats like a dog and "spoke " when I commanded. He rolled over, shook "feet" and even rode on the handlebars of my bike all over the neighborhood. My dad finialy took enough ribbing about my "dog" that he let me have a real one. Then there were three of us!
I'm 55 and people will still see me and talk about the chicken and dog that I had.
Thats a sweet story about your chicken never knew they could be trained.
My mom had a cat that could open the door and let himself in he would stick his claws in the screen door and open it and slide right in.
That is to funny a chicken playing hide and seek.
I love that story! I've seen a chicken play a piano but not hide go seek. I had a cat once that would play hide go seek! He would see you coming, run up ahead and hide. If you didn't go looking for him, he'd run after you and pounce on your leg! If you did look for him, he'd rub along your leg, look up at you then run and hide again.
Who needed video games back then-have either a great chicken or kitty-cat to play with and we were all set!
The biggest problem with the chicken hiding was that he couldn't keep quiet. The closer you got to him, the more excited he would get. So you had to pretend that you couldn't hear him and then when you found him and acted surprised, he would be so happy and crow and flap his wings, then he would run off to hide again. Let's face it, there IS a limit to their intelligence, but when you really want a dog, you make the best of things.
I still love the story I hope my grandson can have one just like yours this summer.