Help!!! Chickens laying eggs on the floor..

[HilltopFarm]

After about two weeks of laying I am now starting to find eggs on the floor of the chicken coop. At first they all were laying in the nesting boxes, but now they randomly are laying on the floor.

What shouls I do??

 

[big red chicken]

Had that done a couple of times myself, but they stopped

 

[desertcat]

Not to hijack the thread, but mine just started laying and are totally ignoring the nest boxes. Well, not totally ignoring them, they've been in and rearranged things and then they go lay on the floor. I, too, am interested in how to get them going in the right spot.

 

[hikerchick]

pick them up.

 

[Eggie and Me]

I've heard that placing golf balls in the boxes helps them to go to the nest??? Don't know if that's true or just a chicken tail/tale?? Will be watching for pearls of wisdom for those with more experience... Hope one of them looks in on us??? HINT HINT

any of you out there?

 

[desertcat]

Hikerchick--I'd like to pick them up before I step on them! Easier to do when I know where to look (dumb human ).

I've got golf balls in the nest boxes and they keep throwing them out. Maybe if I put a box where I found the eggs...? One of those "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" situations.

 

[kycklingar!]

Yes, golf balls or fake eggs work many times. Chickens tend to share nests, so where one hen lays her eggs, the others usually follow. Leaving something they perceive to be an egg will encourage them to lay in that same area.
On another note, if you can figure out what's so attractive about the floor and emulate that in the nest boxes, it might help. Do you use a different bedding on the ground? My hens can't get ENOUGH of straw bales. Nothing is more exciting to them. They abandon all nest boxes if there is a straw bale anywhere in the vicinity.

 

[cmom]

I use golf balls in my nest boxes. They got the idea.

 

[Big dreams]

cmom, what are you using for nesting material? Just wondering. As far as them using the nesting boxes, I put a couple of golf balls in one of the boxes but my chickens picked a different one to lay in. I still have about 4 that just lay where ever they are, the run, the coop, the yard ....

 

[bulldoggin74]

Don't know, but it looks like spanish moss.