First 2 Eggs - but they laid them from their roost!

[Novice Chick]

Good Morning! My 6 hens are young, 4 months. I went into their coop this morning and to my surprise, there were 2 eggs on the floor of the coop! The eggs were damaged. Apparently, they had them while they were roosting. I am not sure which 1 or 2 of the 6 hens had the eggs. There are 4 nesting boxes just waiting for them, which they never use. Do I need to introduce them to the nesting box so they do not continue to lay their eggs on the roost? Do I take their roosting pole away so they roost in their nesting box?

Also, this may see like an odd question, but they are doing (what I call) the "happy dance" lately in which they get low and paddle their feet on the floor, thump thump thump, really quickly. Is that normal? I am really curious to hear what that is all about!

So many questions. We have a Rooster in another coop (surprise! didn't expect that!!). His name is "Millie", as you see from the name I thought he was a she! He is separated from the ladies, only because we got him at a later time and I was going to introduce them when they were all the same size. I recently tried to introduce Millie and those ladies do NOT like him! He is actually afraid of them, as they corner him and beat him up! He literally hides if they are in the same coop.

I am sure I will have more questions as this egg laying progresses!

 

[Annasg]

Mine introduced themselves to their laying boxes but I did not put up my roosting poles until they had gotten used to the boxes. I found my first egg yesterday in one of the laying boxes. I have 6 boxes. They use one of them for the toilet. I put fresh straw into the boxes but this morning they had removed most of the straw from almost all the boxes except the one they use for a toilet. Glad they left it in their toilet. Makes it much easier to clean out.
As for an answer to your question, I would probably remove the roosting poles for a few days to get them used to the boxes. If the poles are not there, they will naturally take to the boxes. Good Luck.

 

[MossyoakLane]

You do not want them sleeping where they lay their eggs. You will end up with poop covered eggs. I would leave the roosts up.

I would put golf balls in my nest boxes. this tells them it is ok and safe to lay their eggs there....someone else did, right? Anything will work that is egg like...golf balls, plastic easter eggs, ceramic eggs.

The golf balls worked great for me, everyone has gotten the idea quickly, and I have no eggs anywhere else.

 

[Annasg]

I had put a lot of straw on the floor and they each made nests for sleeping til I got the roosts up. Just saying.

 

[Novice Chick]

Thank you all for the great advice!

As far as my chicken's "happy dance", I think i finally realized it is more of a mating call, if you will.

 

[Annasg]

Thats funny! My rooster just hops on and everybody just raises cane for a minute. I think I will name him Speedy...LOL

 

[FruitfulFaith]

Im curious about this too. My chickens are about 13 weeks, but half are red stars and black stars so they could start laying next month. They roost during the day, but all of them sleep huddled in the corner at night. They are a pretty tight-knit group I guess. LOL In the brooder they slept on the roosts I made them but not in the coop. Anyways, I haven't gotten the nesting boxes put up yet. What will they do if egg time comes before I put a nesting box up? And how can I get them to use the nest boxes if they are too stupid to even roost at night? Sheesh. LOL

 

[Annasg]

What part of the country do you live in? I am in Tn and at first mine huddled together and I already had laying boxes. They stayed outside huddling. I think they just had to get used to where they were and how much freedom that they had. Then they took to the henhouse and decided when they need to go in. I have found that a lot of time during the day, they huddle down and nap together. Like I said before, I put straw down pretty heavy and they each made nest, close together until I got the roost up. But it took them a few days to decide what to do with the roost. They will figure it out. Dont worry about them. They have their own language.

 

[Annasg]

I think the weather might have something to do with where they decide to sit down and go to sleep.