chickens laying on the floor

[kelyeliot]

Hi Gmc..... I tried the straw and now they have't gone in the nests. I think the one hen that is laying on the ground is dropping it there and it breaks. Then the others go to town.
thanks for everything.

 

[gmc]

If that one hen is laying on the ground in the same place everytime, find something to place over that particular spot. Rearrange things, force her to use the nest. My girls at times will drop one from the roost overnight (another possible cause). I usally find one a week or so, just another thing to consider. Keep working after it, eggs being consumed in the hen house is never good, others tend to catch on pretty quickly no matter what the cause. Sounds like your close to solving your problem. Soon they will all want to use the same nest and then you can start working on that issue.

That's what makes it so fun.

gmc

 

[Orpgirl]

Chickens are so silly! Why can't they lay in the nest box? Even after you made it so nice and comfy!

 

[luvzmybabz]

i swear you all are jinxing me all of my eggs so far have been in nest boxes then today bam one in middle of the coop. It wasn't there 15 minutes before so I am hoping that maybe BC hen just couldn't cross her legs quick enough or BC pullet has started to lay. BC hen usually takes FOREVER in the nest box.

 

[hensdeliverthegoods]

Ok, I may be being thick here, but which is better, straw or hay? I do know enough to know they aren't the same thing....

 

[gmc]

Should we take a poll here?

 

[ruth]

Hi Veronica - I would suggest hay in boxes and have a ladder leading up to box so that they don't have to fly up to box. Finally, is there an edge or lip on the nest boxes?

Funny but true story. We just moved to a new home (actually old plantation home) and it had the old original coop. Nest boxes were just open boxes nailed to wall - no lip or edge on front of box. Looked like eggs would just roll out. So, I added a board about 1 1/2 inches high to front of boxes. I wanted to be sure they knew these were their new nest boxes so I put a store bought white egg in one box. I came out later to check and see if anyone had laid an egg and found the white egg missing - no sign of it at all. I'm thinking "oh no, we have some kind of egg-stealing predator here" but I couldn't find any sign of what had stolen the egg. Later that day one of my girls laid an egg in box. A little later I found it on the floor, unbroken, and put it back in box. Same thing happened again. Finally stuck around to watch. One hen would lay her egg and leave. Next hen would come along and promptly roll it out of box onto floor, 2-3 feet below, and lay her own egg in box. Next one did same thing. Finally added a half-front to boxes so they can't roll each other's eggs out. There are 8 boxes but they will all lay in whichever box the first hen lays in that day.

The mystery of what happend to the store bought egg - as best I can figure out - is that it was of such a thinner shell that it most likely broke when it hit the ground a few feet below. And they probably all had a nice egg breakfast and left nothing of it. However, none of the eggs that they laid and rolled out of boxes broke when hitting ground and were there for me to find later. Goes to show you what a stronger shell free-ranging chicken eggs have.

 

[gmc]

I first thought since it was a store bought egg that maybe it was rejected for quality and tossed out for good measure.

I can certainly see that happening thou, there's a behavior all its own round the nest boxes.

gmc