Freeloading chicken

[mgharris30]

Meet Karen. She is out biggest bird. We got her as a chick in March. She laid a couple of eggs in the heat of summer (East Texas 8000 degrees in the summer). Then, she just stopped.
She doesn’t really fit in a nesting box. The few eggs she did lay were on the ground in the back of the coop.
Her smaller sister lays almost daily.
Is there anything I can do to help?? Will not having a box she likes cause her to NOT lay at all? They have an open air run with a shade net on top— so she can’t really be hiding them.

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

How big are your nesting boxes exactly? I'm not really sure, but it could be the nest boxes.

 

[mgharris30]

How big are your nesting boxes exactly? I'm not really sure, but it could be the nest boxes

How big are your nesting boxes exactly? I'm not really sure, but it could be the nest boxes.

I think 15 inches? 4 are the standard size from tsc. Hubby then made two more that are a couple of inches larger all around. I’m not sure why she stopped just making a nest on the ground

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

Could she be molting? Chickens stop laying when they molt.

 

[mgharris30]

Could she be molting? Chickens stop laying when they molt.

It would be an awfully long molt. But she doesn’t seem to be.

 

[DobieLover]

I think 15 inches? 4 are the standard size from tsc. Hubby then made two more that are a couple of inches larger all around. I’m not sure why she stopped just making a nest on the ground

Do you free range or do they have access to a very large area outside? If so, she may have found a more comfortable place to lay her eggs.
If she is a March chick, she is not molting. She won't have her first adult molt until next year.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

She's pretty! Do you know how to feel the space between her pelvic bones to determine whether she is laying?

 

[mgharris30]

Do you free range or do they have access to a very large area outside? If so, she may have found a more comfortable place to lay her eggs.
If she is a March chick, she is not molting. She won't have her first adult molt until next year.

They have a large, open air run. I’ve raked and moved things around to prepare for the change in weather. It’s possible I missed a nest, but not likely.

 

[mgharris30]

She laid this morning!! Idk what was going on, but it seems to be fixed!

 

[sourland]

Did you tell her that she was invited to Thanksgiving dinner?