egg on the floor?

[Hennyhandler]

I have 10 chickens and the egglaying technically started around August though they all hadn't started. Over time, as you all know, it increased as each chicken started. Well, I reached the maximum (9 or 10) for just a little while before winter hit and they started to go back down in number (7ish) and that was fine. Now, I started to get another and it's a baby

, like the little ones they give when they've just started, and I thought well, it's always possible that she never got to start before winter and now she is.

THEN, the last two days I've gotten a big egg that's been layed on the floor. The first under the roost and the second in the middle of the coop. What is going on with this? Who ever is doing this can't be the one that just started laying because I still get a slightly small egg and she is the only one that lays in the nest box no one else used. Why would one just start to do this? Is it just an accident and it's not the same chicken doing it everytime or...?

 

[FortWorthChicks]

sounds like a confused bird! Do you have fake eggs in the nest? Maybe she realllllly needed to lay it right then..

 

[Kait27]

I have four Buff Orps, three of which lay in the nest boxes, and one lays on the floor. Every day. In the same corner of the floor, though sometimes it gets kicked around. We call it the "floor egg" and the hen who lays it the "Floor Layer." She started on the floor in November and has been there since. I've even tried putting her in the nest box when I see her squatting in the corner preparing to lay. Some chickens just think its a better spot, or maybe she's at the bottom of the pecking order and the others won't let her in the box.

 

[MareeZoCool]

The more I'm here, the more I realize I just don't know about chickens!

 

[Hennyhandler]

Ya i have fake eggs in the nest box. I have no clue what has happened

 

[jennh]

Maybe the nest box she wanted was in use. This happens with my girls occasionally. I have one nest box that is never used! By the way, I got this hint from a long time chicken keeper. He gave me this advice--He just uses cardboard boxes for nests. When they get dirty, just throw them on the compost pile and get a new one! Plus, they're FREE

Jen
Mother to 1 son (soon to be grandmother), 2 cats, one 4 mos. shy of 19, and one 14.
11 hens, Betty Barnevelder, Wendy Welsummer, Isabelle Lt Brahama, Hannah Barred Rock, Henrietta Buff Orp, Sadie Sussex, Dorothy Dominique, Ruby Red (RIR), Maizie Mae Marans (black Copper), Cleo(patra), black Cochin, and Willa Wyandotte (silver-laced)

 

[digitS']

Hens are creatures of habit but they make changes. Sometimes, there are unexplainable reasons . . . at least, to me

.

The floor is NOT a good place for laying besides the obvious problem that it cannot be kept as clean as a nest box. (BTW, I use a cardboard box liner, too.)

The nest seems to be something of a "sacred" place to chickens, certainly as compared to an egg just showing up on the floor. There is a real danger it will be eaten. You can disrupt floor laying by making the nests more inviting while retrieving the egg and "messing up" the floor nest as often as possible.

Steve

"I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess." Possum Lodge oath

 

[ams3651]

my youngsters took to laying on the floor when they started and my older gals followed suite but with temps in the teens Im not complaining because its keeping most of them from freezing. I will worry about retraining when the weather gets warm.