Fluffy won't lay in her nesting box!!

[TinyChickenLady]

I'm sure this question has been asked a zillion times but I'm gonna ask anyway.
She has access to 6 nesting boxes, all with Easter egg dummies.
She can reach the boxes. She has jumped on top of them before.
She lays her eggs under her roost and they have broken so she may be doing it from her roost or I have a "special" silkie

She's only been laying for about a week.

So....... how do I train her to lay in her boxes??

I've tried putting her in them in the morning but she jumps right back out....

 

[tiny529]

Wish I could help you but I'm having the same problem. I tried putting her egg in the nest box and she just rolled it out and yelled obnoxiously at me.

 

[azygous]

Having this problem, too. I went to great lengths to clear out the rooster from his pen and coop because the new pullets have expressed a desire to use his coop for laying eggs. They go through all the ritual and fanfare of flinging wood shavings in the nest boxes only to lay their eggs outside the box, next to it.

You do wonder about their thought processes, if any.

 

[humpbacks1962]

I bought decoy eggs, showed them the way, blah blah blah.
At least they lay inside the coop, in an area easy for me to reach and not al over the place. Maybe when the weather warms up and I reduce or eliminate the amount of straw I keep in now for warmth, they'll lay in the nests I built them

 

[TinyChickenLady]

That's true. Mine does lay in a handy spot but that handy spot is too close to her poo pile for my comfort LoL Maybe she doesn't like my easter eggs....

 

[Alte Vogel]

I have 5 pullets and my EE was first to start laying. I have 2 hooded kitty litter boxes as nesting boxes. Lucy, my EE, used the floor of the coop instead of the nesting box for her first egg. A friend told me that she would continue to lay where she laid her first egg. I wanted to see if that was so. I moved the 2 kitty litter boxes to where she laid. She has gone into the box and now lays in the boxes daily. Good girl Lucy!

Don't know would happen if I wasn't able to move my nesting boxes around the coop.

Good Luck

 

[bobbieschicks]

My 21 week old EE was starting to lay on the floor - she did it two times and I was watching her one day and moved her when she looked like she was ready to lay the 3rd time. She had put shavings on her back and crouched down low - so I figured it was a matter of time. She didn't lay that day, but the next day she did lay in the box. And she's been laying there since then. Hopefully the move helped recondition her to use the box.

 

[202roosterlane]

I know it sounds crazy, but when I am around when they are looking like they are gonna try and lay. I would very gently put them in the nest. I heard a few clucks but then they sat down and tried. I did this on and off for a bout a week. FINALLY, wha-la! They started going there by themselves. I don't know if it was my encouragement but something kicked in.