chicken laying outside the nest box

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I'm new to this forum stuff, but i have learned so much from everyone, Thanks!! From a suggestion from one of you, I put a golf ball in each box, and it seemed to help them understand the whole thing. We got our 6 RIR girls last year,(August) the lady we got them from (across the street) wasn't sure exactly how old they are, but they started laying within a couple of days. We have not seen a molt yet. When should we expect that?

Most hens will go through a mini-moult in the spring and a heavier moult in the fall. The exception to this are first-year pullets--they often do not do a full moult until they are over one year old.

In regards to your hens laying outside the nest boxes--I have a flock of established hens. They have 14 nest boxes for 49 hens, and the standard recommendation is one box for six hens. About once a week, six or eight hens will lay in a little nest they hollow out in the shavings below the nest boxes. I don't know why. The rest of the time, they lay in the nest boxes. All you can do is shrug, and say "chickens are so weird!"