Egg laying.

[kada6305]

My chickens are 18 weeks now, They just started laying last week. I get about 1 egg a day now and have 7 hens so they aren't on a schedule yet. Some times I'll get a brown egg or white egg, never more than one. although lastight I saw there were 2 egg that were soft shells and broke in the coop so I would have gotten 3. But my problem is with them laying all over the place! I put a nesting box with some straw and a few golf balls the other night. In the morning the golf balls and straw were all missing and no egg! One of our hens ended up laying on our porch at 6PM that night. So lastnight i replaced the straw and golf balls in the nesting box along with a real egg. This morning I wake up and the egg, gold balls and straw are all out of the nesting box. There is a circular area in the star stack that is pushed down ( nest maybe?) With an egg in the center. Any ideas how to get them to lay in the nesting box? I have a feeling they are laying though out the day where ever they want. it's like an egg hunt every day, We live on 5 acres so it's pretty impossible to check the entire 5 acres for an egg!

 

[kada6305]

Here is a video of her this morning. building a nest?

 

[lazy gardener]

I love her little duck friend. Can you fence your girls into a smaller area for a few days? You want them to develop good egg laying habits. If they build nests around your property, that may be a difficult habit to break.

 

[kada6305]

I have a little fence around the coop I could try fncing them into there. someone is laying in coop before I let them in, But I have no isea who it is. I'll start the fencing tomorrow. Was she trying to buld a nest, or is she just being silly. throwing starw over her ack lack that. I think she was looking for the egg I took, might have been hers.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have a little fence around the coop I could try fncing them into there. someone is laying in coop before I let them in, But I have no isea who it is. I'll start the fencing tomorrow. Was she trying to buld a nest, or is she just being silly. throwing starw over her ack lack that. I think she was looking for the egg I took, might have been hers.

I think you were seeing nesting behavior. Looks like she's looking for a safe secluded spot to build a nest. Before my girls started laying, they would dig out a hollow in the shavings, and snuggle down into it, occasionally picking up shavings and dropping them on their back or tucking them around their wings. I think dropping straw/shavings on their back is a remnant of the instinct to hide their nest. A broody in the wild might pull the tall grass or foliage over her to hide from predators.

 

[kada6305]

They do have a nest in the back, its a little hold in the back of the straw pile. It WAS a nice neatly stacked straw pile. There was an egg in there this morning, I replaced it with a golf ball

 

[kada6305]

well found my hen nesting in the rabbit hutch -_-

 

[locoguru]

How about some pictures of your nesting boxes so we can see if there is something wrong there.

 

[kada6305]

Okay..Give me a few minutes

 

[kada6305]

She laid an egg in the rabbit hutch and its too far back I cant get to it, It's why I never use this rabbit hutch, We were having issues with two drakes so had to separate them so I put on i n the hutch last night. Leave door open this morning so he could get out and she went in. Do you think since I collect eggs every morning she doesn't feel safe to lay in the coop? here is the nesting box we got from TSC. as you can see I have straw, a golf ball and just put a real egg in lastnight.