aka Dan.

[Crows-A-Lot]

I just joined to learn, share and laugh. Greetings to all. I own (6) year old production hens, 5 Cream Legbars that just started laying this week, (24) 3 month olds of various breeds (mostly colored eggs) and just put in an order for 28 chicks known to be good layers of large to jumbo eggs. My goal is to have eggs for sale along with my produce and crafts at our local farmer's market. An immediate question is how do I convince my legbars to lay in their nest box and not under their ramp? I have fake eggs in the nestboxes.

 

[Isaac 0]

Hello, and welcome to BYC!

 

[Fuchsia]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

 

[Crows-A-Lot]

Thank you kindly, Isaac. I used to have Khaki Cambells years ago. I may look into getting ducks again.

 

[Crows-A-Lot]

You are absolutely correct. God bless you.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Love your screen name!

Make sure your ramp is not too steep being too difficult to climb when the urge to lay hits them. Make sure the boxes are very accessible so it isn't easy to lay somewhere else. Make sure they are clean and large enough to fit comfortably and there are enough boxes to go around. If the hens don't like them or the boxes are difficult to get to, they will lay elsewhere. Also, young layers tend to lay anywhere, eventually they do learn.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

 

[drumstick diva]

WELCOME TO BYC could you block it off with chicken wire or something else, so they can't get under there?

 

[Crows-A-Lot]

Great idea, I will try it.

 

[Crows-A-Lot]

Hello there and welcome to BYC!

Love your screen name!

Make sure your ramp is not too steep being too difficult to climb when the urge to lay hits them. Make sure the boxes are very accessible so it isn't easy to lay somewhere else. Make sure they are clean and large enough to fit comfortably and there are enough boxes to go around. If the hens don't like them or the boxes are difficult to get to, they will lay elsewhere. Also, young layers tend to lay anywhere, eventually they do learn.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

Thanks for all the tips, I think I may need an extra piece of wood along the bottom, they keep kicking the straw out of their nestboxes.

 

[TwoCrows]

Thanks for all the tips, I think I may need an extra piece of wood along the bottom, they keep kicking the straw out of their nestboxes.

Hens can be very picky about where they lay. Safety, no bugs, cleanliness, all important for a hen that thinks her egg may hatch a chick. So play around with things until they approve of them!