Chickens laying outside of nesting boxes!

[azygous]

Forming a group habit and "figuring things out" are not the same thing.

Any new layer is a bit confused as to what it all means. Occasionally one will lay outside a nest box, though in the coop. I had a new layer very recently lay outside the box. It went on for three consecutive eggs. Each time I saw her settling into a spot on the floor, I moved her into a nest box. By her fourth egg, she finally discovered how cozy and private and preferable and superior a nest box is to the floor.

But when you haven't intervened to encourage the new layer to lay in the proper place, it then becomes a habit. Habits and chickens are like a chocolate chip cookie habit in a human - painfully difficult to break. The only way to break a habit of feral egg laying is to coop up the hens and reduce their choices to the nest boxes, thereby forcing them into the new habit.

@FunClucks has an excellent point. The nests must be of proper size and height. A hen must have room to stand up in the nest as that is her final stance when laying the egg. Gravity helps her to get the egg out. Privacy and clean nest are also important. So is a comfortable temperature and ventilation. If the nest boxes are oven hot, no hen is going to prefer that to a cool spot under a shrub outside.

 

[aart]

I would add fronts to those nests, add one fake egg to at least half the nests.
Confine them to the coop for a week.

 

[aldarita]

I believe pullets and hens choose protected and isolated areas where they feel safe to lay eggs. They are so very picky about that, specially when they had just started laying. Pullets get very anxious at the beginning when it comes to pick the "right" place.
I would follow Azygous advice and keep them in the coop for few days. If not corrected, this can become a habit very hard to break. Perhaps you can modify the nests to make them more "secured." Depending on how many hens you have, you might not need many.
Good luck!

 

[Hellomylittleladies]

Hi everyone, I have a pullet who's laid her 12th egg, all in the run, even though she does go in and out of nesting boxes. Watching her today, she was exploring the nesting boxes repeatedly, but in the 30 seconds before she laid, she tried to go under the head hen, repeating tucking the head between the legs! It's as if she was scared/in pain and reverted back to seeking maternal comfort. I suspect she's been laying in the run because she wants to be with the flock.
I was going to leave her to figure it out herself. After reading all the comments in this thread, I'm not sure if I should be proactive about breaking the habit?
I can lock her up in the coop area where the nesting boxes are. However, she obviously wants to be with the flock so will being locked up separately traumatise her from going to the nesting boxes again?
If the flock are locked with her in the coop, she just lays at the doorway where they gather for me to let them out in the mornings.