Found 1st eggs today all over the place! What do I do?

[slou]

Found our first eggs today from our four, 4-month old hens (2 rhode island reds, 2 buff orpingtons). One was outside by rosebush, on the wood planter box (chicken was standing right next to it), one was in run, and one was in the two laying areas inside the coop. Why didn't they all lay in the egg laying areas in the coop?

Some ideas/concerns:
- coop shavings hadn't been cleaned in a few days so it was pretty dirty in there
- coop is too small (we purchased a coop size for 2-4 hens, but only 2 laying areas in back - maybe it's too small for them?)
- they roam outside all day - maybe they've been laying them in the bushes all over the place?

What should I do?

 

[ging3rhoffman]

My girls stay in their run and have a pop door to go into their coop. After everyone has laid in the morning they can go out to play for a couple of hours. We made their run rather large so we didnt feel guilty about them being in a confined area all day long. Each evening we let them out to free range and they all go back in before dark.

When chickens get to free range they dont know where home is or where the nest boxes are. They have to be kept in for awhile to know where their nest boxes are and then they will start using them. Just keep them in until they find and use the nest boxes then let them out to free range. Hope this helps.

 

[BorderKelpie]

I place fake easter eggs in the nest boxes to give the ladies a hint. My favorite are the pink camo colored ones. The birds don't seem to care about the color.

 

[Jen4]

Wow... eggs everywhere

Just a suggestion but I would keep them in there coop/run area for a few days or week and put the fake eggs in the nest boxes til they learned where to lay. Ours started laying I think 2 weeks ago (we've only gotten 6 eggs) and I only found 1 egg out in the run, the rest I found in the nest boxes..... good luck.

 

[ghillie]