Any ideas to help stop hens laying from the roost ?

[birdeo]

If so would love to hear them !
Peafowl ( or at least mine ) seem to be notorious to want to lay from roost, resulting in many broken eggs .
No critters for them to fear, not sure why they do this .
Tried leaving other " tempting " eggs in the nest boxes on ground .. that's not working, they still want to do the " egg drop "

 

[Rich386]

I really don't have any idea why they would do that but!!!!
The thing I would ck is the nesting boxes. Things like location - size of the box - how the boxes are lined. I notice with mine each one will have their preferred box. That may be the top row or lower level maybe right or left side. It is obvious they have preference and for what ever reason that is where they lay. I have chickens but I think the same things apply.
Good Luck

 

[zazouse]

How old are your hens? i know with other birds sometimes they will lay from the roost a few times before they figure out what is going on and find a nesting spot.

You could put a thick pile of shavings under their roost and save them eggs from breaking

You could also put some brush around the boxed to encorage them, my peas like to nest in brush covered areas just like my guineas.

I made this for my geese to lay in and my peas are always going in there.

 

[zazouse]

 

[MinxFox]

I agree with zazouse. I have peahens laying eggs off of the roost right now but the eggs are not breaking. I am pretty sure it is a young peahen thing because my older peahens always lay on the ground and seem to know what they are doing. The young peahens will not know what to do at first, so you can expect some broken eggs but by the end of this breeding season they should have the hang of it and should even be making their own nest. Generally the peahens don't incubate their first eggs anyways so the first eggs are almost always randomly placed. If you are wanting to incubate the eggs yourself I would definately try what zazouse said and put something under the roost to keep the egg from breaking because even though they hardly ever incubate their first eggs, the first eggs can still be fertile.

 

[casportpony]

One of my three year olds laid all of her eggs from the perch last year, so most were broken, but I did manage to intercept a few by standing under her and catching them as they were falling.

 

[jeepgirl13]

Omg! That is TO funny!

One of my three year olds laid all of her eggs from the perch last year, so most were broken, but I did manage to intercept a few by standing under her and catching them as they were falling.

 

[Arbor]

I have roosts that are easily removed in case I have a hen that does this, but I have heard of others locking the hen up in a dog crate during the time frame she usually lays

 

[casportpony]

I have roosts that are easily removed in case I have a hen that does this, but I have heard of others locking the hen up in a dog crate during the time frame she usually lays

Mine would go nuts if I tried to confine her... I have been thinking about making a catch net below the perch, just need time, lol.

 

[Arbor]

Same with mine, that's why I opted for the removable roost