I have a staff of hundreds who spend all day following the chickens around with a little pillow and a roll of toilet paper.
Seriously. Thanks for asking.
Gathering eggs for dozens of hens (me) is the same for hundreds or thousands of birds (my friends). I have had good luck using rollaway roost boxes attached to the portable coops to collect the eggs. It also helps keep the hens from getting broody. Here is an example:
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The chickens prefer to lay their eggs in quiet, dark places and if you provide that for them they will happily reward you by laying their eggs right where you want them to.
I don’t buy eggs. I sell them and charge $5/dozen. It takes about 10-15 minutes a day to care for the flock and I have more orders than eggs each week. In fact, I am giving serious thought to doubling the size of my laying flock in the spring.
I will be adding more Bielefelders as they work well for me here in VA. This is my breeding rooster:
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He is a badass.
Overall the key is space and stress management. Enough space for each chicken means happy, healthy chickens and awesome eggs and meat.