First egg but hens not going into nesting box?

[Chukar man]

Here's a way to fix chicken pimps problem you just take one of those small plastic crates an d cut the in halph put hay in them and leave fake egg in it

 

[fleak]

Is it necessary to Have the nesting boxes up of the ground?
I have had 3 eggs. 1 was fine the other 2 were soft and dropped from the roost. I have tried the golf balls. And now have plastic eggs. Seems none of them are even going in to nest box to look around!

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[catdogme1]

Well are chickens all layd that first eggs in the egg box but the 2 or 3 time that did not so we got fake eggs and we put them in the egg box to show them where to lay

 

[catdogme1]

Ok many put her in the eggbox for a wile that all so works

 

[Billy C]

I ran a 2x4 on edge from one wall to the other about 12" out from the nesting boxes. My nest boxes are about 24" above the coop floor. A chicken can not fly into a box. They are birds, they do fly, sorta. Being clumsy fliers they are not concise enough to navigate a flight into a nest box. Place a good landing bar (2 x4 ) 10 to 12 inches out from the nest box. Your hens will fly up onto the bar, walk along the bar examining each box and decide which box is elegant enough to lay an egg in. I use golf balls instead of fake eggs. A chicken isn't that bright, you know. You can play games with them too. Put 3 golf balls into one nest and only 1 in the others. The chickens will lay mostly in the nest with 3 balls in it. Then move the 3 to a different nest and they will lay in that one. Hens are always trying to keep up with the jones' and to lay an egg in a nest box rejected by others would be below their status.

It is also common for new layers to drop an egg anywhere. They don't know just what is happening the first few times they feel the need to pop an egg ( see chickens not to bright above). They will get the idea though. That is the purpose of the fake eggs in the nest. To lure them in. I still end up with an egg on the floor once in a while when the boxes are all occupied and the need hits a hen.

 

[karenerwin]

My hens started out laying eggs under the nest boxes! So we lowered the 1 set of nest boxes to ground level and the 2nd set about 1 foot off the ground. They started laying in the ground level box and sometimes in the slightly higher box. After a couple of months we moved the boxes a little higher and they continued to use them just fine.
Now that I have been wheelchair bound due to foot surgery and my daughter has been having to take care of them ( much to her dismay), some of the hens have started laying their egg wherever.
I know she broke one the other day because she kicked it when she was going in the barn!
When I can walk again, I am hoping they revert back to laying only in the nest boxes. Time will tell.
It is a bit more like an Easter egg hunt when you have to discover where they laid them at!

 

[Chukar man]

To fleak i


To tell you the truth I started mine and still have my Delawares nests on the ground

 

[catdogme1]

Well in sted of the easter egg hunt I would block of the place that thay
like to lay and all the places that look like a possibility place to lay and try the methods

 

[Sharon Skibo]

 

[fleak]

My best box is Built separate from coop

didn't know if the window placement mite b a problem

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