Change in egg laying habit

[kwhorne]

My RIR hens have been laying for 4 or 5 weeks now with no problem. I have had only three jelly eggs with 12 hens and figured all was going well. One day last week I got two eggs on the coop floor instead of in the nest boxes. I didn't think much about it at the time but for the past two days one of my hens has dropped her egg on the floor and cracked it. I have 8 nest boxes but there are two or three in particular they all prefer. My question is why would one of my hens suddenly start using the floor instead of her nest? The only thing I have done in the past week that could have played a part in this was to change out the shavings in the nest boxes. I used golf balls in the beginning to encourage nest usage but have since removed them

From the looks of the cracked eggs the hen may be sitting on the roost in front of the nest and dropping her egg then.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[kwhorne]

Anybody out there?

 

[blue fire]

did you change the type of bedding? She lays during the day right?

 

[kwhorne]

I kept the same bedding as before. The only difference is the shavings were a little finer than in the previous bag. All my birds lay between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm each day. I was thinking one of the hens couldn't or wouldn't wait for her favorite nest to be empty or didn't like having two or three eggs in her favorite nest. Today I took all the eggs at noon (6 eggs) and again at 4:00 pm (3 eggs). All the eggs were in nests. Who knows what is going thru their itty bitty minds? Maybe it was just a fluke. Tomorrow I'm going to leave all the eggs in the coop until 4 or 5 pm and see if I have any on the floor.

Thanks

 

[crazyhen]

You took out the golf balls, shame on you. You know hens don't like change. LOL Seriously check your hen and see if she is slightly prolapsed. They can unintintually drop an egg if they are. The muscles just don't work as well. I bet it is upsetting to her too. I had some hens that started laying early due to having the light on in winter too much. I lost one and the other is having some problems too. No more light to extend days for me now. It can harm our birds. They needed the rest. they need the time to mature naturally. I guess mother nature does know best. I was just egg hungry and impatient. oh if she is slightly prolapsed or irritated preperation H helps. Gloria Jean