hens not laying after moving nest box

[chickenshiha]

4 days ago my hens went broody in the nest box that all my hens lay in and I tried to move her to another nest box she gets mad and off the back to the old nest box she was in even at night so I took her and the nest box and she sits quietly but when my hens didn't see the nest box they were like I'm not going to lay anywhere else it been 3 day I haven't got a single egg I have 4 other nest boxes but not laying in them the box was an oil tin can about almost everything I had laid in from pigeons to chickens to quail it like a traditional box for them I tried putting 3 eggs in each box so they get used to them laying in them no eggs yet help

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

They might not lay for up to four weeks after being broody. It's normal.

 

[AChickenCarer]

TheKindaFarmGal is correct on that. But you can "Break" them out of being broody if you need eggs soon. You can read this link on three ways on breaking a hen out of being broody, http://www.gardenbetty.com/2014/06/how-to-break-a-broody-hen/
But you can let this go on naturally.

 

[chickenshiha]

Ugh not to be rude but you don't get what I'm saying I'm not asking why my broody won't lay I know they don't lay she is broody now I am asking why my other hens that ARE NOT broody won't lay after I took the nest box they only lay in I don't want to break broodiness I love broodiness why won't my other hens lay not the broody

 

[Wilebaum]

Is it possible they're laying elsewhere and hiding the eggs from you? Do they free range? They can't really shut off their egg maker because they don't have a familiar box.

 

[chickenshiha]

Well I let them free 2 times a day for an hour or so but the don't do much they just dust bath in the dirt that's a foot away from the coop until I am done with coop to let them free range so no they cant lay outside I feed the layer pellets and got give them cold water for this heat they don't eat eggs as I am almost near them watching them

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Sorry I didn't understand. Try using punctuation if you want people to understand and get better answers.

Your hens are most likely laying in another place, or maybe they are molting. And even after you break a broody, she might not lay for about a month. This varies with the hen.

 

[chickenshiha]

Well I don't see molt,when dose it start to show? As I have been keeping chicken for years and never have I had a hen molt, I heard that happens because of the climate here(palestine or Israel as some call it)could even moving one of best box cause stress? And my hens don't free range and I always clean the coop every 3 days no eggs I can find

 

[centrarchid]

4 days ago my hens went broody in the nest box that all my hens lay in and I tried to move her to another nest box she gets mad and off the back to the old nest box she was in even at night so I took her and the nest box and she sits quietly but when my hens didn't see the nest box they were like I'm not going to lay anywhere else it been 3 day I haven't got a single egg I have 4 other nest boxes but not laying in them the box was an oil tin can about almost everything I had laid in from pigeons to chickens to quail it like a traditional box for them I tried putting 3 eggs in each box so they get used to them laying in them no eggs yet help

This is an old one but you are lurking about so I will attempt to provide appropriate answer. A hen imprints on a nest site, rather than the eggs, at least initially. This ensures hen places her eggs in one location needed for successful incubation of a clutch by one hen. That means she goes back to the same location each day to deposit an egg. The imprinting on location is also important for incubation, if not on based on site she might settle anywhere to incubate bare ground or even another hen's clutch. Once embryos start piping in egg, then imprinting process starts on offspring that can override nest site imprinting. Generally, I am not able to move a broody hen to another location until about day 18 of incubation. Exception to that is when I can move the entire environment the hen sees when on and off the nest. That means hen needs to be in a box where here entire world is moved. I have not tried rotating a hen's whole world yet with respect to compass but suspect it could cause a hen difficulty finding nest after leaving it to do her daily ritual.


@chickenshiha only part of your troubles above were language related. A big part of miscommunication comes from differing mind sets. You are interested in broodiness, in part, I suspect because acquiring birds in your neck of the woods is more difficult. In the US at least, chicks are so easy to get we often view the adults as disposable and have the luxury of consuming all the eggs without impacting ability to replace loss of layers. People with closed flocks or at least reliant upon locally sourced chickens are relatively rare.