Ceramic Nest Eggs Get The Boot Daily

[Living_Legend]

My Pullets are turning 19 weeks old this week and I have just put 2 Ceramic Eggs in their nesting boxes but everyday I go out there to let them out the coop I see that they have kicked them out. Both of them will lay like 6 inches in front of the boxes. I have 2 boxes, 1 egg in each so they or someone is going into each box and removing the fake egg.

Does this tell me anything?


Also when do most people collect eggs? Mine havent started laying yet but i plan on collecting them at 7:30pm every night when putting them to bed. Is that ok or is there an issue in that?

 

[aart]

Show a pic of your nests...maybe the front is not high enough, should be 3-4" above bedding. If ceramic eggs can get kicked out then real eggs can too.
Pullets are boisterous with 'arranging' the bedding,
this will calm down after they've been laying awhile.
Hopefully it's the birds messing with the nest as a prelude to laying,
but it could be something else(rats, snakes, etc.) removing the eggs.

I often collect all thru the day depending on other activities,
but grab any late eggs when I lock up just after dark.

 

[Ridgerunner]

7:30 should work great. I like to collect them every day after they have all laid for the day and not leave any out there overnight. If 7:30 fits your schedule that is great.

I agree with Aart, that probably means the pullets are kicking the eggs out of the nest and could be a sign that your nest lips are not high enough. That's a good reason to have the nests open before they start to lay, so you can find problems like that and fix them before real eggs are involved.

 

[Living_Legend]

You guys are the best I basically just had too much padding in the nesting boxes also I was doing deep litter method to the extreme I put a mask on some goggles and gave the whole Coupe a deep clean for the first time and I just put one padding level for the nesting boxes the lip is 4 inches I was just over doing everything

With my lifestyle I only want to collect eggs once a day if I can what happens if I go away for the weekend and I don't collect eggs for two or three days?

 

[TheAmundsons]

Ours started kicking the ceramic eggs out of the box about a week before they started laying. I suspect it was because they were spending more time arranging the nest boxes (as previously mentioned). Now they get kicked out maybe once a week, but usually a few days before a new layer starts! Hopefully that means eggs will be here soon for you!

 

[Living_Legend]

 

[aart]

I'd add to the front to make it higher...
...and maybe extend dividers up with angle at top to dissuade perching on them.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Ours started kicking the ceramic eggs out of the box about a week before they started laying. I suspect it was because they were spending more time arranging the nest boxes (as previously mentioned). Now they get kicked out maybe once a week, but usually a few days before a new layer starts! Hopefully that means eggs will be here soon for you!

 

[Living_Legend]

They cant perch on them. When the door is shut it closes them in.

I am going to catch my first egg on film.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

Before mine started laying, they were kicking out all the bedding and the fake eggs every day. Once a few started laying, it calned down. Now three out of the four are laying and I only find a fake egg out a few times a month. Never any real eggs.
Once, before they started laying, one of them kicked the fake egg out of the nesting box and coop!