1st (and 2nd!) eggs, but...

[Summer_Dawn]

So, my lap chicken, Chubbs, laid her first egg on my lap this afternoon! Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting it (just thought she was coming up to take a nap like normal) and it rolled off my leg and cracked. Anyhow, after giving her a few minutes to recover, I carried her over to the outdoor waterer only to come upon our second egg on the ground! Not sure who laid it, but I have a suspect in mind.

So my question is: am I going to have to keep them cooped to teach them to use their nesting boxes? We have a couple of newer hens that have been laying for a while that we just integrated last night. One of them laid in the nesting box today, so the younger girls will have a couple there to show them the ropes, but I don't want to keep them all cooped if I don't absolutely have to. They free range during the day and aren't completely all comfortable with each other yet so I'm worried that cooping them will cause more stress than necessary at this point.

 

[N F C]

I've found that new laying girls will drop their first eggs anywhere/everywhere. Sometimes it just takes them a bit of time to figure out what nesting boxes are for. I've never had to keep my birds in the coop, they just seem to catch on after a couple of "oops".

Some people will put artificial eggs in the nesting boxes to show the girls where they should lay. You might try that if you don't think they'll figure out the boxes.

 

[Summer_Dawn]

Thanks. Hopefully they'll get the hang of it. I'm not even sure who laid the one in the yard so I'll just keep an eye on them. If nothing else, it'll be winter soon and I can't imagine they'll be going too far away from the coop but we might have to hunt until it starts snowing!

 

[aart]

So my question is: am I going to have to keep them cooped to teach them to use their nesting boxes?

Might come to that, but first try adding some fake eggs to the nests.
Keep in mind, that the birds you just added may lay a couple then stop due to moving stress.