I have heard you should or can put an egg decoy in the nests - such as a golf ball - to help the hens know where to lay their eggs when they start. My question is, does this really help and at what point should you do it? Right when they get ready to start or should you have them in there for awhile before??
Yes, it does work. It sort of just lets them know they hey theres an "egg" so thats where they're suppose to lay. Umm, you can start whenever I would suggest when they start. Because if there's an "Egg" in there in the middle of winter it's sort of odd. So I'd say you can put it in right when you notice laying. Hope this helps! QP
We left light-ish colored easter eggs in the nest boxes from when they moved in, all through winter and everything. So far they have never made a location mistake, save the first egg (and I think that was an accident). Don't know whether they really made a difference, but it sure can't hurt!
I put plastic Easter Eggs in each of my nest boxes. Got a dozen for 99 cents. I put them in there as their faces and combs started to turn red and one girl finally did an egg squat for me. My DH gave me such as bad time too. Said that chickens were dumb and would never make that connection. But each day the eggs would be moved around so I knew the girls were definitely checking them out. And one day, I came home to this: The green one is the real one.
After our light sussex left us 2 eggs in the sand in the poop board box, I placed a golf ball in each of the nest boxes, and also removed the box from the poop board. She got the message immediately and has laid her eggs in the same next box every other day. I felt it was safe to return the sand box on the poop board and haven't had any issues since. So yes, the egg decoys work.
I noticed the wood shavings in your picture in the nesting boxes. Mine won't be there until the end of summer, but is that as good or better than straw? I have plenty of it since I bought a big bale for the brooder side.
I keep a few golf balls in nests, seems to keep their attention on nests. I get an egg somewhere else in the coop only occasionally, Bought 6, think I have 3 left. Snakes???
Thanks everyone for the info. My "girls" are 12 weeks so I still have a little time before they will lay. I think I'll try putting some in in a few weeks - it certainly sounds like it wouldn't hurt!!
Quote:I use hay because it's available locally, and they kick pine shavings out of the nests but they leave hay alone. When they lay somewhere besides a nest, it's usually on a pile of hay somewhere. I would imagine they would treat straw the same as hay.
You've heard the expression "nest egg"... something set aside to build on... that's where it's from... put aside in the nest to give the girls something to build on! I keep a nest egg in the boxes all the time!
