Stupid Problem

I have a stupid problem.  It really shouldn't be a big deal, but it is.  It is not life threatening but is starting to annoy me to no end.  The chickens are laying were they should NOT.  The section of the wood shed that I had blocked off with a tarp had a 1.5 foot gap at the top of the tarp door and there was a back window opening to the outside.  Sarah came in and told me there were a "butt load" of eggs under the tarp covering my old road bicycle.  After lecturing the child about her language I went out to the wood shed.  Twenty Six eggs I had to break against the stump!!  Another 2 dozen!!!  I think the chickens are doing it just so they can have a feeding frenzy when I break the eggs open for them.  Again, this is a stupid problem.  I just want to collect the eggs so I can sell them.  At this rate I am going to have to go back and see how much money I have lost.  The chickens are cheating me out of cash.

I went and got some chicken wire out of the fencing pile (1 of 5 piles on the property) and put wire mesh over the window and more over the door.  The chickens SHOULD not be able to get back there now.  There are a few 6-8inch gaps at the top of the wall, I really hope the chickens don't get in there now.  I also added three more nest boxes (for a total of four now) around the wood shed walls.  I even got some barley hay and lined all the nest boxes.  The momma cat that had her babies in the wood shed had moved hers to the chicken coop and the chicken coop lone cat baby was moved out today by her momma.  So I grabbed the cat carrier, stuffed all the babies, caught momma and took them out to the barn.   I made a tunnel with the hay bales and stuffed the cat carrier in it so she could feel safe.  Informed the child that a new rule was in effect, NO cats or broody hens are allowed in the nesting boxes!!!  Throw those broody hens outside into the weather until they decide to stop being broody and keep moving the kittens out if they come back.

Of course as I type this Annmarie spotted the momma kitty with a kitten in her mouth heading toward the chicken coop!!  I just saw her go by with another kitten.  She will get tired of it after a few days.  I NEED those chickens to lay in their nesting boxes.  Like I said, a stupid problem...