Yea, but none of the other 9 were showing signs. I was defiantly waiting as long as i could so the others wouldn't trash the nests.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. You want to know if they are going to trash the nests or sleep in them before you start getting eggs. If they are trashing the nests there is a reason. It may be that they are looking for a safe place to lay before they start. That often involves scratching. If they are scratching the bedding out you probably need to raise the lip high enough that they can't do that. If you have them blocked off they can't check the nests out to see if they are a good place to lay you may be teaching them to lay somewhere else. Even with the nests open, a fake egg in there, and a lip high enough to keep bedding in there is no guarantee they will lay in there but your odds are a lot better if they can at least check them out.
If they are hiding in the nests during the day you may have a bully, an amorous cockerel, or your space may be too tight. That can be a little harder to fix but you can start working on it if you can identify the problem. Until you identify a problem you can't fix it.
If they are going to sleep in the nests there is a reason. I want to know that before I start to get poopy eggs so I can fix it. There are certain conditions where blocking off the nests as they are learning to roost might be a good idea, but usually if your roosts are higher than the nests and you have sufficient roost space it is not an issue. I know some people on here talk about blocking the nests as if it were the Holy Grail of chicken keeping. There are times it can be beneficial, but to do it just to do it is usually a mistake in my opinion.
Many pullets start looking for a place to lay about a week before they actually start. Their first egg is usually in a nest. Many of them get that part right. But occasionally (too often) some pullets don't have any control over what is going on. Instead of preparing a nest and going there to lay, they drop their first egg or eggs wherever they happen to be. That might be on the roosts or just walking around. There are a lot of different parts to a pullet getting everything working correctly in her internal egg making machine, from how to put the egg together (that's why you can get some weird pullet eggs) to when and where to lay it. If yours is laying it from the roosts she is probably having a problem with when. Are you providing lights, that can mess their timing up. Most get the bugs out of that system fairly quickly. If this is still going on in a couple of weeks get back to us. Until then open the nests, leave them open all day and night, put the fake eggs in, and walk away. See what they do. You may be pleasantly surprised.
