Yesterday morning I went outside to go check my nesting boxes for eggs since I knew that anytime the first egg should be coming. So I opened the hatch to the nesting boxes and found an egg.. (I was happy). So I took the egg inside and put it up. I Let my chickens roam around the yard all day and they automatically come in side at dark. So when I went back outside later that evening to close the door to the coop I noticed that there was an egg (the soft egg) laying on the ground but I cant figure out why one hen layed her egg in the box and why the other layed hers on the ground ??
Two things I have stopped trying to figure out why they do what they do... Women and chickens... Oh yeah...just noticed...
WELCOME to BYC and congrats on those first eggs! Isn't it so exciting! Do you have golf balls or fake eggs in the boxes? Sometimes that helps give them a clue as to where the eggs are supposed to go. They like laying where other hens have laid. Sometimes it takes them a little while to figure it out....and then sometimes they never get it. I have one silkie that just feels the need to lay the egg wherever she happens to be when it needs to come out. I never know where I'm going to find her egg in the run, but I do know it won't be in or even near a nesting box...
My hens just started laying a couple of weeks ago and the first couple of days they ignored the boxes. I put a couple of their own eggs marked with an X in the boxes and within a couple more days they were laying in the boxes. Now they always lay in the boxes. Just remember to mark any eggs you use in the box and discard them after you have finished. Good luck!
I used golf balls in my nest boxes, and it worked great. In fact, I was even able to "convince" them to use a different nest box by moving the golf balls to a different nest box (just for an experiment)! Oh, I wanted to mention that I have friends that freerange their chickens, but do not let them out until after noon-time, so that they are encouraged to lay in the nest boxes rather than while they're out & about freeranging. If that's an option, that might work as well.