Fake Eggs

[Leah and peeps]

Hi everyone,

So, i know that a lot of people put fake eggs or golfballs in there nest boxes to encourage and get your chickens to lay in the box.
My question is what age should you put in the fake? I was just worried if you put it in to early they would go into the nest box and start to peck it and possibly when they do start to lay, they would peck/eat their own eggs.??

Thanks!

 

[calicokat]

I keep a pair of golf balls there all the time - so young ones just grow up seeing them. It hasn't been a problem with pecking so far.

 

[pgpoultry]

Most hens are not egg peckers, so try not to worry.

I use fake eggs in a number of places where my wayward free-rangers lay to encourage them to go back to that place,

Sandie

 

[mmaddie's mom]

I use my "nest eggs" when my girls start getting careless and laying places they shouldn't... it kinda seems to remind them where they sould lay.

 

[SpringChickens]

I use golf balls/fake eggs. Some people even use them to DISCOURAGE egg eating because the hens will peck at them and not get a reward, so they give it up.

Good luck!

 

[rancher hicks]

My OP is that the wooden eggs that I use "discourage" them from egg eating. Once they hurt their beaks pecking at the fake egg they may figure all eggs are hard and will hurt their beaks. I keep the wooden eggs in the the nest 24/7.

Nest boxes should be small enough so they can't hang out and walk around. Also they should be dark inside. Hens like their privacy.

 

[HBuehler]

We have never used any type of fake eggs and my chickens lay in the nest boxes just fine.

 

[Lynette]

My pullets will be 4 months old next week. Should I put fake eggs in their nest boxes now or wait? And if I wait, how old do they need to be? And also, can I use plastic colored easter eggs?

 

[gryeyes]

Don't wait to put the fake eggs in the nest boxes. If you use plastic Easter Eggs, fill them with sand and glue them shut, so they are at least as heavy as a real egg. Otherwise the pullets will just kick 'em around like soccer balls and maybe even peck them open. You do NOT want that to happen.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Well my guess would be your related to Martha Stewart.

And of course her chickens are smarter than other chickens.