Introducing Hens to New Coop: Won't Lay in Nesting Boxes?

lothomson

Chirping
5 Years
Jan 2, 2015
71
5
79
Hi guys,

I have two SLW hens and I recently bought and put together a wonderful new coop. This coop is much more

spacious and has roosting bars, two nesting boxes, and is two stories tall. (there is no run except for the

"first" level of the coop).


Anyways, I still have my old coop in the same area as the new coop (in sight of the hens) because I am

preparing to clean up the old one and sell it.


My hens have not laid a single egg in the new coop, it is almost as if they

don't understand that it is a nesting box (I put in a golf ball in each...still nothing). For a whole day, both of

my hens did not lay an egg so I was worried for their health and opened the door to the old coop and they

laid in there the following day.


I also tried locking them in the top level of the new coop and placing each of them in the nesting boxes at

the time when they usually lay... nothing. I opened the old coop door and they happily laid their eggs in

there.


Any ideas?? Soon I am going to get rid of the old coop and I don't want them to be holding in their eggs

and getting sick... thanks.
 
Last edited:
Last summer I moved my six hens to a mobile run, and they did the same thing for awhile. I would take them out of the coop they sleep in at night and put them into the mobile run( old dog kennel) during the day. They were constantly trying to get back into the other pen to lay their eggs. I eventually moved one of their old nesting boxes into an old dog igloo in the mobile run and they got the idea that they were supposed to lay there. There were a couple of hens that were escape artists that insisted on running back to the other coop to lay their eggs a few times until I figured out what they were doing and blocked their escape routes. Silly hens! They just don't like change! Eventually they will adapt though.
 
We have just built a new coop and bigger run for our girls. From the new one they could see their old one and were constantly trying to get out to go and lay in there. As soon as I moved it out of their sight they forgot about it and are laying and sitting in the new nesting boxes.
 

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