I again am batteling with my girls to use the nest boxes. I have 9 hens old enough to lay and 8 do lay and one is suragate to new baby pullets. I kept them in the hen house over winter and they all layed great & in the nest boxes. I have a cluster of 3 boxes. Now that they are free range only 3 consistently use the boxes. I found 20 eggs under my shed last week but can't find where they are laying again. I need to get this resolved as I have clients that want eggs on a regular basis. Any ideas on how to get them to use boxes?
I did the same thing - coop over the winter and now they have been free ranging this spring. I've had the same problem lately - found 12 eggs in the barn under some plywood last week. I placed artificial eggs back in their nesting boxes to kind of "retrain" their minds. I had had no eggs in the nesting boxes 2 days ago and 2 eggs in there yesterday after placing the decoys in there in the morning.
I dont let my hen's out to free range until they are finished laying in the nesting box's. It's usually around noon when they are done. Hen's lay at different times naturaly and it's hard to predict when they are ready. If you want eggs for selling, you may want to wait to let them out. I had hens lay all over the yard at first. If you allow them to "always " lay in the coop, eventually they will get used to that and will continue. They need to have accesss to the nesting box even when they're out and about. They will return to the coop when they're ready to lay. Good Luck...RM
