First eggs...on henhouse floor..???

[SueT]

Do bantams accept the standard size fake eggs?

 

[GC-Raptor]

Do bantams accept the standard size fake eggs?

I don't have any bantams, but they could be embarrassed, when they start laying.. Yeah I think it would be Ok. The ones I got at TSC are medium sized. GC

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Do bantams accept the standard size fake eggs?

Yes

 

[ADVaughn]

So, I read that you should use different stuff in the nest boxes to distinguish them. So I've had straw in them and pine shavings on the floor. But the chickens scratch around in the boxes and pull all the straw out. As they've gotten older and closer to laying I've put ceramic eggs in the boxes. They left them alone for awhile but have now gotten back to scratching out the straw.

Today we found our first egg from our Ameraucana, I guess, on the floor of the coop.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

So, I read that you should use different stuff in the nest boxes to distinguish them. So I've had straw in them and pine shavings on the floor. But the chickens scratch around in the boxes and pull all the straw out. As they've gotten older and closer to laying I've put ceramic eggs in the boxes. They left them alone for awhile but have now gotten back to scratching out the straw.

Today we found our first egg from our Ameraucana, I guess, on the floor of the coop.

View attachment 1104781

Congrats on the egg. How much of a lip is in the nest boxes?

 

[ADVaughn]

Congrats on the egg. How much of a lip is in the nest boxes?

Honestly, not much. In fact, the boxes and the roosting bars are almost equal height. (My coop is a kit assembly from TSC.) The birds actually prefer to roost above it all up in the gable.

 

[aart]

View attachment 1104209
IT WORKED!!! Golf ball installed & Dominique responded with this cute little brown egg this afternoon. So fun! Thanks everyone for the advice. Hope the other ladies will follow suit!

Congrats! Would be good to have a bigger lip on front of nest 4-6" above bedding.

Will the golf ball method work with trying to get them to lay in more than one box?

Yes.... yes, it will.

They left them alone for awhile but have now gotten back to scratching out the straw.

Common for new layers to tear up nests, they'll calm down with that after awhile....tho I do have one hen that does this obsessively, trying to break her of it. SMH.

 

[apryl29]

Congrats on the egg. How much of a lip is in the nest boxes?

The box my chickens are actually laying in is a pre-fab box I got from TSC. I have other boxes and they have a 3-4" lip. Every day there's a hole in the middle w/ no straw and a pile of eggs.

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Have you tried putting the hay in the box in a bowl shape to begin with, then placing fake eggs in the middle. And do you have more than one box? I know it sounds simple, but my girls seem to gravitate to boxes that appear like some else thought was a good box.

 

[apryl29]

I have several boxes, but this particular box is behind the can where their feed is kept. For some reason they liked that spot on the floor as opposed to the boxes I made for them so I bought a box and put in there. I need to get some fake eggs still, but I just keep tossing straw back into the box after I collect their eggs. I've noticed chicken sized indentations in the other boxes they just aren't laying eggs there.