Hunting chicken eggs

Why Easter was never any fun.

   As a kid growing up here in Fallon, Nevada we always raised our own chickens. Dad would place a fake egg in the nest box so the hens would lay their eggs where he wanted them to. But this did not always work, especially with chickens that were being raised free range. One of my daily chores was to find all the rogue chicken nests and collect the eggs. Needless to say, by the time Easter rolled around I was sick of hunting for chicken eggs.
    As you can see here in the photo things haven't changed much. This is a rogue nest belonging to an Ameraucana chicken and what makes it worse is that they lay colored eggs. Now this breed is not the most egg productive but I have found them to be very resilient to cold weather and when being raised free range they are quite happy to take care of themselves for the most part, with the exception of an occasional feeding to remind them where home is. Rather than trying to force the hen to lay her eggs where I want them, I simply mark the nest, leave a dummy egg in the nest and continue to collect eggs.