free rangeing and egg laying?

[orion-mama]

I need advice. I have 10 free range hens, 3 are laying. 2 lay on the side of the house behind an arborvitae. And the other 1 lays in the coop box. Will the other 7 lay in the coop? Nervous they will lay in the neighbors yard or somewhere else. I expect they will be ready soon. If I keep all in the coop 1 of the tree layers, layed on the ground and the egg was damaged.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The easiest thing is to keep them confined till they use the nest boxes a couple times and they should keep doing so.

 

[centrarchid]

They tend to lay in boxes best when the number of alternative sites outside is low. When mine are kept on range that looks like a golf coarse they lay in boxes well. When range is like a tall grass prairie as currently run then egg laying tends to be in the field but usually in predictable locations if grass mowed to form paths.

 

[orion-mama]

My backyard looks like a park. There are no boxes in the yard for them. Thanks for your help. If I leave them in the coop the eggs are most likely going to get broken, will that be easier to deal with? The one today didn't get to her tree spot and layed on the ground in the coop, in a high traffic area! Silly bird.