Hen laying on the ground?!

[The cheek coop]

We have a buff Brahma that is laying in the run area. I also found one laying out in the yard while they were free ranging. We have 9 hens altogether and 8 of the 9 are laying. We have 3 nesting boxes, (of course they only use 2) they are clean and have plenty of straw in them. The buff Brahma has used the nesting box before but has recently started laying anywhere and everywhere.
We have a black Brahma that is laying in the nesting box with no problem.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Yardmom]

Are the eggs in the run in one place that the hen would consider a good nesting spot or are the eggs just dropping wherever she is at the moment?

 

[The cheek coop]

Are the eggs in the run in one place that the hen would consider a good nesting spot or are the eggs just dropping wherever she is at the moment?

No it is random.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Are their rear ends super fluffy? Sometimes with very fluffy birds, if their eggs have a good amount of bloom on them they'll stick to their rear end and then fall off later when the bloom dries up a bit.

 

[The cheek coop]

Are their rear ends super fluffy? Sometimes with very fluffy birds, if their eggs have a good amount of bloom on them they'll stick to their rear end and then fall off later when the bloom dries up a bit.

This isn’t the best quality of pictures but the best I can do at the moment.

 

[rosemarythyme]

This isn’t the best quality of pictures but the best I can do at the moment.

Decent amount of fluff. Do you happen to know if her eggs are heavy on bloom?

 

[The cheek coop]

Decent amount of fluff. Do you happen to know if her eggs are heavy on bloom?

They have a different sheen than the others. Today her egg was in the nesting box.

 

[Blue Andalusian]

We have a buff Brahma that is laying in the run area. I also found one laying out in the yard while they were free ranging. We have 9 hens altogether and 8 of the 9 are laying. We have 3 nesting boxes, (of course they only use 2) they are clean and have plenty of straw in them. The buff Brahma has used the nesting box before but has recently started laying anywhere and everywhere.
We have a black Brahma that is laying in the nesting box with no problem.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

This happens to me too, some of my Chickens lay on the Ground or on the Roosting Shelves. If you want her to lay a egg in a nest, try putting a fake egg in there. Then she'll see it and probably go in the nest. Good luck with this though!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

If you think the fanny fluff is the problem, just give her a little trim back there. Best time to do this is going to be at night shortly after they've gone to roost, then there's no drama about chasing and trying to catch her. Chickens don't see well in the dark, so use a little pencil flashlight and scissors. One way to know if it is the problem is to check to see if her egg sometimes has a fluffy feather stuck to it. Even if you're not sure if that's the issue, it wouldn't hurt to trim her anyway, that way you can rule that out if it keeps happening.

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

If you think the fanny fluff is the problem, just give her a little trim back there.

Interesting. I never realized this could be an issue. I've been sporadically finding eggs on the ground when they lay in their nesting boxes 99% of the time. Figured it was adolescent mischief, but maybe it's not their fault.