good news and bad news

[Stegs]

hello everyone, as the title states, I have good and bad news


First the good news. I found my first egg over the weekend!!! One of my buff orpingtons laid it...so the process begins!!

now the bad news.....she laid it in the middle of my yard. The only reason i found it is because i stepped on it (didnt smash it)

I marked it with a sharpie, and put it back in a nesting box.


Any tips for me on how to get them to lay in the coop? I have a feeling she is laying (or has been for a little while) in secret locations

Very big day for us this weekend. I spend most of it walking around the house searching for eggs

 

[sumi]

Congrats on finding your first egg! Placing it, or some fake eggs or golf balls, in the nest box is about the best way to show them where you'd like them to lay.

 

[Stegs]

Congrats on finding your first egg! Placing it, or some fake eggs or golf balls, in the nest box is about the best way to show them where you'd like them to lay.

i had the golf balls in there for about 2 weeks already. I placed the egg i found back into the nesting boxes. She just pecks at it. Im not 100% which hen laid it....but im hoping i find a egg in there at some point

I dont want to search every day and night for them! But what an exciting time on the "farm" 1 of my buff roosters started crowing this weekend too

 

[aart]

Lock 'em up!!

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for 3-4 days can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop 24/7 for a few days to a week, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

 

[aprilgrem]

Lock 'em up!!

Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for 3-4 days can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests.  Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop 24/7 for a few days to a week, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it...at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.

When you say coop do you mean actually inside the coop? Or just in the coop/run. I got my first egg last Friday! And just got another one today...yay! BUT this one was laid just in their run. The other one was laid in the PDZ of the poop board. I have plastic eggs in the nest box and you can tell one of them has been IN the box just hasn't laid in it.

 

[aart]

Quote: You could let them in the run too...just stop a majority of the free range time until they are laying in the nests regularly.
Are they heavy plastic eggs or the hollow lightweight ones? The light ones can have sand added inside to keep them from being so easily kicked around and/or out.