Eggs not in nest box

[tweetzone86]

LF is Large Fowl, ie not a Bantam. So yes, your RIR is an LF

So...my neighbor's cat is still determined. Maybe she's too dumb to realize that she can't hunt them?

 

[Mosey2003]

Your neighbor's cat needs to be locked up, lol.

 

[tweetzone86]

Your neighbor's cat needs to be locked up, lol.

If I could give this a million likes I would! But my city doesn't have any laws or ordinances regarding keeping cats indoors, so I can't stop them from being let out and cats can climb fences so if they're out they will pester my chickens if I let them free range

So they only get to range when we're out there because the cats don't like getting shot by my airsoft shotgun or chased away by us.

It's extremely aggravating that people can let their cats just go wherever. So many people are allergic to cats (hubby) or deathly allergic (sends my sisters into asthma attacks), they bite, they can spread toxoplasmosis via feces to pregnant women, they scratch deeply enough to draw blood, and they will chase kids a lot of the time. I can't tell you how many feral cats my grandma has trapped and taken down to the pound- she's known as the "lady who brings in the meanest bleep bleep bleeps" (you fill in the bleeps).

I think all cats should be locked up- not only for people safety, but for their own as well (it gets frigid in winter, they are often hit by cars or coyote lunch, etc). But until someone decides that this is a smart idea, I've got to deal with the stupid things and keep my chickens in a run unless I'm out there

 

[Relleoms]

Another thought I had; maybe you could add curtains to your nest boxes. My girls haven’t laid outside the boxes since I put up the curtains. Coincidence? Maybe. But they seem to like a little privacy. And I just bought a 4 pack of flour sack towels at Walmart for a couple bucks and hemmed to length. Put on a $1 curtain rod I found at Lowes on the clearance rack...easy peasy.

 

[tweetzone86]

I'd probably just staple them to the rubbermaid totes I have for nest boxes...but since adding a fourth one, I haven't had any eggs in other places, so maybe it helped?

 

[aart]

I'd probably just staple them to the rubbermaid totes I have for nest boxes...but since adding a fourth one, I haven't had any eggs in other places, so maybe it helped?

Sure sounds like it...let it go as is for now and see how thing work out.

If you do decide to try curtains, which I think are totally unnecessary with the already darkened nests you have, do not use staples, too easy for them to come loose and end up inside your chickens.

 

[Grits&Eggs]

I feel your pain, in August I tricked mine into laying in the roll away nest box my husband built (We cut a hole in the wall and screwed them on! Easy egg collection since the nest boxes actually hang on the outside of the coop and the eggs roll down to collection tray). Oh, and I used golf balls, didn't affect my brown egg layers, but I have one that goes broody all the time and hogs one of the two nest boxes, so a couple months ago I put a couple baskets in the coop and now the others only lay in the baskets, and no one goes near the rollaway, sigh....I can never win
I found the trick is trial and error and doing what makes sense for your particular situation and of course, not getting too stressed, cuz this stuff will drive you batty...

 

[Chickassan]

sigh....I can never win
.

Best nugget of truth ever on a nesting thread.