Chickens laying in the coop??

[pullet 123]

hi, my chickens are free ranged and they will not lay in the coop and i cant find them out side of the coop either. I know that i am doing everything right...the light comes on in the coop at night, they are eating layer feed, they have hay to lay on. can anyone help?

 

[birdonerous]

You can try to keep them in the coop in the morning, so that if they are laying you'll be sure to find the eggs.

 

[Linn Bee]

You can try to keep them in the coop in the morning, so that if they are laying you'll be sure to find the eggs.

Ditto to that.

First, are you sure your chickens are laying? It takes pretty close to 6 full months and some chickens are even a bit later.

Second, are you sure your girls are not molting. Hens will not lay during this period.

Third, have they had a serious scare or big change in their recent lives? Many times hens will stop laying after a significant (to them) event.

Assuming none of these, I would keep the chickens inside for a couple of days so they learn where to lay eggs. Then you can let them out later in the day after they lay their eggs.

Once they get used to their nesting boxes they will return during the day no matter how far they free-range - at least mine do.

Love, Smart Red

Edited to add: I have my lights coming on in the wee hours of the morning so they have a natural evening period to find their roosts. My girls usually lay their eggs in the morning, so they are almost always done laying before I get up to let them out.

 

[TheSpeckledRoo]

I had this same problem. My girls would lay wherever they pleased. What i did was i used golf balls and placed them in their nesting boxes. I then would walk into the coop in the morning and put the girls in a nesting box, where they would find the golf ball. It helps to let them out later, when they finish laying.