HELP - chicken in nesting box then laying elsewhere?!

[JsChicksNC]

Our Faverolle spends a good amount of time in the nesting box but then actually lays her egg in the coop or in the run. This has happened four or five times recently. She used to lay in the box itself. Once she is done she leaves and doesn't spend excessive time in the box. Is this broodiness? Or just her being bothered we're taking her eggs? Or just difficult ?

 

[dudleydog7]

I've never had this problem, but my chickens didn't lay in the nest box. Instead they built their own nest in the bedding. Have you tried putting a wooden egg in the nest?

 

[JsChicksNC]

Yep, they've got fake eggs in each of the nesting boxes. She spends a lot of time in the box but then it ends up somewhere else. And she didn't used to do this.

 

[dudleydog7]

I have no idea what you can do, sorry.

 

[cafarmgirl]

I have a few birds like this that just insist on laying their eggs anywhere but in the nest box. But since it's generally somewhere in the coop I really don't care, I've gotten used to finding their eggs in a corner or so forth. One goes into the feed area of my barn and lays her egg in a nest she made in the haystack.

 

[JsChicksNC]

I have a few birds like this that just insist on laying their eggs anywhere but in the nest box. But since it's generally somewhere in the coop I really don't care, I've gotten used to finding their eggs in a corner or so forth. One goes into the feed area of my barn and lays her egg in a nest she made in the haystack.

Do they start the process in the nesting box? That's what's perplexing to me - she spends a long time in the nesting box but then the egg ends up somewhere else. I'm curious if she's actually laying it there or moving it after it's laid!

 

[appps]

Any chance another hen is chasing her out and taking over the nest before she is done thus causing it to drop outside the nest?

 

[JsChicksNC]

Any chance another hen is chasing her out and taking over the nest before she is done thus causing it to drop outside the nest?

Hmm, that's an interesting thought. At least yesterday I don't think that's what was happening - when she had just come out of the coop there was no one in the nesting boxes and her egg was in the run. I don't know about other times though.

 

[crazyfeathers]

The pecking order has changed in my coop. My orphintons used to be the top "chickens" but now the barred rocks have moved up. This has caused my orphintons to lay on the floor of the coop. I think the barred rocks don't allow the BO to lay in the nesting boxes. I do find a cracked egg occasionally. Hopefully spring comes soon so my ladies aren't stuck in that coop, I also think that has something to do with it. I spread hay out in the run so their feet don't get cold, they will go out but only if it's above 20 degrees.