Habits die hard

[cherylcohen]

Just got two new girls so now we have ten. One a gold laced wyandotte 25 weeks and a Welsummer 22 weeks. The rest of our flock is 17-22 week and no eggs. yesterday we got our first egg from our new wyandotte on the ground of the coop. She was laying at the breeder but the breeder doesn't have roosts or laying boxes (because typically they only have young birds) and so I'm afraid she is just in the habit of laying on the ground. We have golf balls in the nesting boxes and they are comfy and private.

So do you think it's just cuz she's new to the coop or do I need to do something different to encourage her?

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

If you can keep an eye on her, when she's settling down to lay, move her to a nest box, with a golfball in it. If you keep doing that, she SHOULD eventually figure it out... remember, their brains are the size of a peanut, so expectations shouldn't be too high

 

[Imp]

I didn't have nests for the first 5 years I had chickens. When I added nest buckets last December, the older hens moved right in without hesitation.

Imp

 

[cherylcohen]

Not able to watch them as I work outside the chicken coop! But maybe I can catch her next weekend!

 

[chookchick]

I think she will catch on, give her a little time...I let my 2 hens lay on the floor of the coop for several months before I got around to building a nest box. Once I built it, within one week both had moved to the new nest box. If she likes it (checks it out, etc...) I'm sure she'll start using it.