Chickens burying eggs

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I have 40 chickens (30 EE's, 10 australorps) in a coop that's 20x11 I have always had a issue with the hens laying on the floor, not all are laying yet, there 6-7 months old now. The ones that do lay, seems about half use the nesting boxes and the other half make a nest in the corner of the coop and burry the eggs, I have found 5-6 eggs in one nest buried at diff depths in the bedding before, my question is how can I correct them of this? I have 8 nesting boxes 12x12x14, they only use 2 of them usually. Everyday I take a little rake and dig up the 4 corners to find all the eggs, a few lay on the ground but don't burry the eggs also. I kinda figured they would just instinctively use the nesting boxes after awhile but not all are.

 

[animalgrl]

Have you tried putting fake eggs in all the nesting boxes? That might encourage them. I have an EE pullet, about the same age as yours. she has been laying for about a month now and she just the last few days and she was laying in the back corner of the coop. Just the last couple of days she seems to have figured it out and has finally started laying in the nesting box.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I have 2 golf balls in each nesting box, when I put bedding in the nesting boxes I put the golf balls in there for that reason, only other thing I can think of is the nesting boxes sit around 2 1/2 feet off the ground, although all the chickens are plenty old enough to clear that maybe some are just to lazy to hop that high. The EE's are usually the only hens using the boxes, most of what I find on the ground are brown eggs, the EE's can lay a brown egg but rarely do I find a brown egg in the nesting boxes. Next maybe I will build them a ramp or something to walk up and see if that helps.

 

[donrae]

You can try blocking off the corners.

when I have a bird that likes to lay on the ground, I just put a box there for her to lay in. I use rubbermaid totes or such. I put one in the area she likes to lay in, and she usually lays in that box. if it's in a hard to reach corner, the box makes it easier for me to get the egg out without getting down on my knees in the bedding

 

[aart]

Is there a perch about 8" in front of nest for them to fly up to and take a look before entering nest?

Pics of your nests might help us spot something.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

 

[Zoom Zoom]

When my girls started laying one of them decided she would lay waaaay back in the corner under the roost and poop board. I put an enclosed half bale of straw in the corner, the next day she started using the nesting box and hasn't stopped. Worked like a charm. Good luck, it's very annoying having to crawl around for your eggs.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Idk exactly how wide it is but it's more than enough for them to fly up on and walk around.

I deff wouldn't crawl around looking for eggs lol, my coop is big enough I can reach everywhere on my feet, I use a rake to dig in the bedding for eggs, there's 5 out of 8 corners they usually lay in, some lay in the middle of the coop also.