got my first egg, now a question

[carriehelene]

One of my sex-links laid me a beautiful brown egg today

. However, not in the nestbox, but in a nest she made in the most inaccesible spot in the yard. I don't have any golf balls, but I did put a wiffle ball in the nestbox. My question is, can/should I put the egg into the nestbox, or maybe a store-bought egg instead of the wiffleball, so she gets the correct idea? I sure don't want all my girls getting the idea that between the roses and the garage is a good place to lay

Another question is regarding layer feed. My chickens are 17 weeks, and only 3 of the 12 are early layers. The rest are typically later. With only 1 laying now, should I start the layer feed? Will it harm the others to eat the layer feed and oyster shell?

 

[TripleH]

Congrats. As for the feed you should be fine to switch to layer.
I mixed mine at first. I still had some grower left when my first one
started to lay, so I mixed it half and half. Do you have any plastic
Easter eggs? I put two rather large ones in the nest box, and they caught
on right away, but I would think any ball, even wiffle ball should work.
Good luck!

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might try locking them in the coop until she lays, then let them out. Force her to use the nesting box and maybe she'll get in the habit. This may not be practical for you, but just an idea.

 

[cmom]

Congratulations on your first egg.

I agree with the other posts. If you get any more eggs layed outside of the nest boxes I would shut the birds in the coop for a couple of days. I use medicated Starter/Grower I feed it to the birds until I get my first egg then I switch over to Layer. If I have any Starter/Grower or Grower left over when I get my first egg, I mix in the leftover feed with the Layer feed. I have never had any problems. The amprollium in the starter helps in the chicks development in their resistance to cocci. It is sulfa based. There is only a problem eating the eggs layed by the birds that have had the medicated feed when they start to lay if you have any alergies to Sulfa. You didn't say if your feed was medicated or not but if not no problems. Also I have a dish of free choice oyters shells available to the birds all of the time.