hen laying in the run

[mtnviewfarms]

I have a 2 y.o. Australorp ( purchased she and 8 of her sisters ) from a backyarder about 6 months ago and she lays nearly every day in the same
exact spot. I have an old wicker chair in the run and she and her eight sisters have taken it over and that is their favorite spot off and on all day long.
Although I've never actually seen her laying it I always find the egg ( always extra large and a gorgeous pinkish ivory with a heavy matte sheen ) right
behind the chair. Most of the time it is intact but sometimes it is cracked so I imagine that she just is 'sitting in her favorite place on the back of the
chair' and just 'lays it as she sits' and it drops to the run floor. My 'solution' is to put more of whatever covering ( sawdust from my DH's woodshop
if I have it or dry leaves in the fall ) I'm using in the run and putting an extra thick amount of it behind the chair so the egg will be protected. I've never
had any luck 'retraining' them to lay in the nest boxes if they don't want to.

 

[mtnviewfarms]

I have a 2 y.o. Australorp ( purchased she and 8 of her sisters ) from a backyarder about 6 months ago and she lays nearly every day in the same
exact spot. I have an old wicker chair in the run and she and her eight sisters have taken it over and that is their favorite spot off and on all day long.
Although I've never actually seen her laying it I always find the egg ( always extra large and a gorgeous pinkish ivory with a heavy matte sheen ) right
behind the chair. Most of the time it is intact but sometimes it is cracked so I imagine that she just is 'sitting in her favorite place on the back of the
chair' and just 'lays it as she sits' and it drops to the run floor. My 'solution' is to put more of whatever covering ( sawdust from my DH's woodshop
if I have it or dry leaves in the fall ) I'm using in the run and putting an extra thick amount of it behind the chair so the egg will be protected. I've never
had any luck 'retraining' them to lay in the nest boxes if they don't want to.

 

[chickenwalker]

I think you are right about trying to retrain - if they want to lay their egg in a certain place, then that is where they are going to lay. Period.

With my first hen to lay, I happened to be in the coop when she started to frantically started to circle up in the corner of the coop. I'm new to chickens this year but my gut feeling was that she wanted to nest. I scooped her up and placed her in the bottom nesting box. Buffy circled a few times, sat for a few minutes and laid her egg. She is about the only one of my 9 hens to consistently lay in this box. The rest like the higher boxes.

I've caught New Girl a few times before she was ready to lay. I put her in the nesting box, circled a few times, hopped out and laid her egg on the coop floor. Go figure???