Chickens won’t lay in boxes, feels like we’ve tried nearly everything

[tickens33]

My partner and I have 7 5-month-old hens with a couple of them laying. We see them in the boxes all the time but never any eggs in there. They sometimes even sit and sing their egg song in the nest boxes, but then go lay somewhere else in the coop instead! I’m hoping someone might have an idea what else we can try.

There are 4 external nest boxes (each approx 14x14x16) with an angled roll-away floor, based on specifications given to me by folks on this site. We really need the chickens to start using the roll away boxes, because we don’t live on the property and we can only be here to collect eggs a few days per week. So far we haven’t had any egg eating but I feel like it’s only a matter of time.

What we are doing so far-

-fake eggs in the boxes
-a plywood lip at the bottom of the nest boxes for privacy
-ramps leading up to the lip so they don’t have to hop over
-a low-powered solar light in the coop to make the nests darker and more inviting by comparison (sometimes they lay right under the light…)
-using cinder blocks to disrupt their nest spots in the coop (they will just lay right in front of the blocks instead)

What we haven’t tried yet-

-adding curtains, since they seem to prefer the lack of privacy in the middle of the coop anyways
-forcing them to stay in their nest boxes until they lay (we haven’t actually caught any of them in the act of laying yet)
-changing the angle of the roll away floor or taking it out entirely

Here’s some pictures of the coop as well. These were taken shortly before they started laying, so it doesn’t include the ramps up to the boxes or the cinderblocks that have been put in there to deter nesting in different spots. In the pictures, you can also see that the nest boxes had ventilation holes, we have recently covered those up to make it darker. Otherwise it’s the same.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Take the artificial grass out of the nest boxes. That's something different from the main floor. It probably feels or smells funny. Hens like to nestle a bit before laying. Make the shavings deeper in the boxes.

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My suggestion.

 

[tickens33]

Take the artificial grass out of the nest boxes. That's something different from the main floor. It probably feels or smells funny. Hens like to nestle a bit before laying. Make the shavings deeper in the boxes.

​

My suggestion.

If I do that, then the eggs probably won’t roll correctly, right? So I’d need to take out the slanted floor too?

I mean, I’d rather have them lay eggs in the boxes at all, than have them specifically in a roll-away box, so we might give it a try. But I’m really hoping to make the slanted floor work somehow..

Thanks for the suggestion!!

 

[Themellowyellows]

Change it for straw or hay, they like to make there nest and cover there eggs, they probably dont feel safe laying eggs there.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

You can try it with the floor regardless?, but as suggested more padding either in flakes or hay. You could even add fake eggs so they know where they go.

And as they just started laying (I'm assuming) they could still be learning their bodies and when they lay. Our Buff Brahmas when they started they'd sit on the nest box then lay outside it almost like they thought they were done but whoops they weren't lol

ETA: ours aren't roll away so not sure if a padded feed bag insert would work or not?

 

[tickens33]

Change it for straw or hay, they like to make there nest and cover there eggs, they probably dont feel safe laying eggs there.

I’ll most likely give it a try. The only thing is then the eggs ability to roll into the collection area will probably will be obstructed. But maybe it just won’t work out to have a rolling box.

You can try it with the floor regardless?, but as suggested more padding either in flakes or hay. You could even add fake eggs so they know where they go.

They do have fake eggs in there Sometimes they even go in and sit on the fake eggs and sing their egg song.

And as they just started laying (I'm assuming) they could still be learning their bodies and when they lay. Our Buff Brahmas when they started they'd sit on the nest box then lay outside it almost like they thought they were done but whoops they weren't lol

That’s good to know, yeah based on the number and size of eggs we get, it looks like we have 2 active daily layers and 1 new less-frequent layer. So maybe as the other few start to lay, they’ll all collectively decide to use the box…?

ETA: ours aren't roll away so not sure if a padded feed bag insert would work or not?

Oh interesting, I’m not sure if i can picture what you’re talking about but I think I know what you mean…. Do you have a photo or link?

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

Oh interesting, I’m not sure if i can picture what you’re talking about but I think I know what you mean…. Do you have a photo or link?

I still use these for our new boxes as well. As someone said you don't have to see them, just fold up the bags, but my OCD was not happy with them folded funky lol

I just stuffed them with plastic bags and made a padded center. And now they are covered with hay but still gives a softer bottom



https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nesting-box-and-pads-fyi-and-reuse.1585220/

 

[aart]

If I do that, then the eggs probably won’t roll correctly, right? So I’d need to take out the slanted floor too?

I mean, I’d rather have them lay eggs in the boxes at all, than have them specifically in a roll-away box, so we might give it a try. But I’m really hoping to make the slanted floor work somehow..

Thanks for the suggestion!!

Just put a bunch of bedding on top of the fake grass for now,
leave the slanted floor as is, see if they use them.
Once they start to use them regularly slowly* remove the excess bedding to use the rolling feature.

*slowly, like over a couple months, they don't like drastic changes.

 

[tickens33]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nesting-box-and-pads-fyi-and-reuse.1585220/

Oh, thanks for the link! I thought maybe a “feed bag insert” was some kind of special thing, I get it now

Just put a bunch of bedding on top of the fake grass for now,
leave the slanted floor as is, see if they use them.
Once they start to use them regularly slowly* remove the excess bedding to use the rolling feature.

*slowly, like over a couple months, they don't like drastic changes.

We ended up entirely taking out the slanted floors from 2 of the 4 boxes before I saw your reply. When I visited today, those 2 boxes had eggs!! I’m hoping we can add the slanted floor back in and still make it work, but for now anything is better than them laying all over the place.

What was extra exciting today is that I got almost 3x the amount of eggs as usual! 9 eggs, and the last time I collected was the day before yesterday, normally I’d only get 3-5 in that timeframe. So that means we went from 2-3 likely layers to at least 5! Seems like I changed the boxes just in time. The girls are growing up!

 

[Themellowyellows]

Oh, thanks for the link! I thought maybe a “feed bag insert” was some kind of special thing, I get it now


We ended up entirely taking out the slanted floors from 2 of the 4 boxes before I saw your reply. When I visited today, those 2 boxes had eggs!! I’m hoping we can add the slanted floor back in and still make it work, but for now anything is better than them laying all over the place.

What was extra exciting today is that I got almost 3x the amount of eggs as usual! 9 eggs, and the last time I collected was the day before yesterday, normally I’d only get 3-5 in that timeframe. So that means we went from 2-3 likely layers to at least 5! Seems like I changed the boxes just in time. The girls are growing up!

Yay good to know!