Chickens laying outside of coop... advise please!

[spiritpots]

I have a small flock of six chickens and several of them have started laying outside of the coop in the flower garden under one of my windows this week. One of the chickens had been broody until about a week ago (she has not started laying yet after being broody) and I'm wondering if her broodiness could be part of the problem. While she was broody I would remove her from the nesting box throughout the day but would often find that the eggs laid by the other girls were either pecked or had been rolled out of the nesting box and broken.

I keep the nesting boxes very clean and a couple of the chickens do use them. I have four nesting boxes, which sounds like a lot but I usually have a few more chickens. This morning there was one egg in a box but it was broken. I let my chickens free range all day and when I went to let them out this morning three of them headed straight to the flower garden. I tried removing the chickens from the spot yesterday but they kept returning and three ended up laying there. I'm wondering if perhaps I should keep them in their run that is attached to the coop for a few days to break the behavior. I have also put a couple fake eggs in the boxes.

I have not had this happen before so truly appreciate any advice you may have. Thank you!

 

[neo71665]

How many nest boxes do you have? What kind of nest boxes are they? Can you lock them in the coop to train them to lay in there?

 

[spiritpots]

How many nest boxes do you have? What kind of nest boxes are they? Can you lock them in the coop to train them to lay in there?

Thank you for your reply. I have four boxes made out of wooden crates. They have used all four of them until this week, when they started laying by the window. My coop is attached to the run but I do not have food or water in it, which is why I thought keeping them in the run/coop for a few days might help retrain them. Do you think this behavior could have started when the one chicken was broody? She goes broody once or twice every year but I've not had this laying outside of the boxes occur before.

 

[neo71665]

Anything is possible with chooks but if one is hogging a single box most of the time they just move boxes. Heck my birds will climb in and lay on top of the broody if she won't move. You have way more than enough boxes so ruled that idea out. I would move the food and water with the birds and lock them up for a few days. See if they take the hint they need to lay where you want.

 

[WIchickMama]

Anything is possible with chooks but if one is hogging a single box most of the time they just move boxes. Heck my birds will climb in and lay on top of the broody if she won't move. You have way more than enough boxes so ruled that idea out. I would move the food and water with the birds and lock them up for a few days. See if they take the hint they need to lay where you want.

I agree with this. It seems like once they starting doing something it sticks and they need to be re-set

 

[spiritpots]

Thank you very much. I just found three of the chickens trying to lay amount the fallen leaves on my potting bench so I will definitely lock them in for a few days. I've been down eggs lately so who knows where else they have been laying!

 

[Tundrawooky]

Id lock them up for a few weeks, maybe toss a couple golf balls in the boxes

 

[Defwagpin]

I've had the same problem recently. I've found one of my new girls laying on my glass picnic table. Found six eggs. There has been boxes on the table, so I didn't think to look there, until I caught one in the act. They had been laying in the nest box, so I'm not sure why they switched. My older girls and at least one of the newbies, use the box. I'm moving the boxes off in hopes that helps.