First Egg Countdown

[Nelson-90]

First egg from one of my barnevelders yesterday. Hatched 3/21. The other one will be a while, her comb isn't as developed.

congrats

 

[Happy Chooks]

What's on the floor of the hen house compared to what's on the floor of the nest box? Could it be that they don't like how the box is furnished?

I agree. And can you put the nesting boxes on the ground? They might just like being close to the floor of the coop.

 

[HeidiKinnamon]

I have 10 girls. 4 RIRs, 5 Black sex links, and a White leghorn. My white girl laid for the first time on July 18. then my red and black girls all started within a week of each other leading up to my birthday on Aug 24th. It was the best bday present ever. Now I just have to find out where they have all decided to lay their eggs since then. I was stupid and did not insist they use nesting boxes at first because they were laying in the coup but then they started finding other more creative and pain-in-the-vent places to start laying: like under the porch, and in my nextdoor neighbor's field in a big mess of cattails. I still cant find out where 4 of them are laying eachday. I have even stalked them to try to find out.

 

[Nikki99]

What's on the floor of the hen house compared to what's on the floor of the nest box? Could it be that they don't like how the box is furnished?

Currently I have the same shavings in the nest boxes that we have on the floor.

I'm wondering if maybe they aren't big enough, even though they are the same size as Dells boxes. Looking at the boxes though and then looking at the girls, they seem to small for them. ??
I'll post some pics of my set up, maybe you will see something I don't?


Here's our boxes. 7 boxes, 5 LF hens of laying age and 2 bantie pullets not ready to lay.




Here's our roosts. I read that your supposed to make sure that the boxes are lower then your lowest roosting bar, to prevent them from roosting on the boxes. Do you think maybe the boxes are to close to the roost?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Location to the roost is fine.

They look big enough. My smallest boxes are 12x12x12 and they get used fine. You only need 1 box for every 5 hens. Can you remove the divider and make the boxes wider? If you can, I'd try that and also cover the top to make them more private.

 

[chicken pickin]

Location to the roost is fine.
They look big enough. My smallest boxes are 12x12x12 and they get used fine. You only need 1 box for every 5 hens. Can you remove the divider and make the boxes wider? If you can, I'd try that and also cover the top to make them more private.

I also agree with trying to cover the top to make it more dark and private. They may feel a little more secure and than may try the boxes. You could also as quoted here above try to remove a divider or 2 and see if they may like the roomier boxes. Good luck

 

[Gifa]

Thirding on covering...

Also... maybe try putting a layer of nesting material like hay or straw in there. Could be that they just don't like the smoothness of the empty box.

 

[samsr]

Hehehehe, silly chicken!



Congrats to everyone who has recently gotten their 1st eggs!! Woot Woot!!!

I have a question for you all. I posted this awhile back and got no responses so I decided I'd wait a bit and try again. Most of my girls are flat out refusing to lay in the nesting boxes and the one hen that does, only does if she's locked in the chicken house!! I have tried the golf balls, I even tried leaving one of their eggs in one of the boxes. I tried locking them in the chicken house all day for a few days in a row, and I've tried setting them in the boxes so they can check them out....still nada! I find them on the floor of the chicken house or hidden all over the chicken yard. This is driving me crazy. It also seems that a few days after I've found the nest in the yard that they are using, they move and start laying somewhere else!

I'm not sure what else to do. The boxes are about the same size as the ones they sell at Dells, made out of wood, off the ground but lower then the roosts, I've tried two different types of bedding. I have 5 girls of egg laying age and 7 boxes to choose from...what the heck am I missing!?!





I am kinda of new to this chicken raising stuff, but could there be to many nesting boxes to choose from for the number of hens you have? One thing is quite certain. They are comfortable where they live. Maybe you could put a outside nesting box or two in on the side of the coop. Like the ones made out of 5 gallon buckets and hung on the wall.

 

[Nikki99]

Location to the roost is fine.
They look big enough. My smallest boxes are 12x12x12 and they get used fine. You only need 1 box for every 5 hens. Can you remove the divider and make the boxes wider? If you can, I'd try that and also cover the top to make them more private.

Yes, that's definitely do-able. I will try making them bigger and covering them. Thanks!!

I also agree with trying to cover the top to make it more dark and private. They may feel a little more secure and than may try the boxes. You could also as quoted here above try to remove a divider or 2 and see if they may like the roomier boxes. Good luck

Thanks! Looking forward to trying all these ideas I'm getting from everyone!

Thirding on covering...

Also... maybe try putting a layer of nesting material like hay or straw in there. Could be that they just don't like the smoothness of the empty box.

Thanks for the advice, covering is definitely going to be the first thing we do, it's the one thing everyone is saying to try.
I had straw in them but they didn't seem to like that so I switched it to shavings. In the pic I posted I hadn't yet filled them. If I had left them empty, I wouldn't blame them a bit for not liking them!! I wouldn't either! Lol

 

[Nikki99]

Samsr,

Yes, I've been thinking about doing a couple of bucket type nesting boxes outside. Good idea!

I'm pretty new to chickens too, so I have no idea if the girls just have to many options! Who knows with them, they are always keeping me on my toes, and if they aren't then our roo is. Lol.
I'm going to try a few different things and then lock them up in there for awhile, hopefully they will find out that they actually like their boxes at that point! I really don't like looking for eggs all over the chicken yard.

I see your in Fountain, Co. We used to live on Ft. Carson. Don't run across to many people from Fountain, usually it's Colo. Springs or Pueblo, pretty neat.