Hens not laying in box

[buckstrang]

Happy Thanksgiving!!
My question is how do you get he hens to lay in nest box? how many box should i have for 10 sex linked? any help would be great. Winter here and eggs freeze on the coop floor.

 

[LynneP]

Three boxes should be enough no more than 1 foot off the ground.

 

[patandchickens]

3 boxes is plenty, 2 would probably suffice if they are extra-wide compartments.

A fake egg in the nestbox usually works pretty well -- can be a fancy storeboughten nest egg out of wood or ceramic, or a plastic easter egg filled with sand and taped shut, or even (what I use) a somewhat egg-shaped-and-sized rock

Also when you find floor eggs you can relocate them right away to the nestboxes and leave them there for a few hours, that can help too.

Some people feel that floor-level nestboxes encourage floor eggs, although that has not been my experience; you don't want the nestbox mounted so high on the wall that a hen "in labor" so to speak has trouble getting up there; but people usually find that anywhere between 1-2' off the floor works fine, even higher sometimes but if you're already having floor egg problems it's probably wise not to push your luck

Make sure there is an easy way for hens to hop up -- a 'landing pad' perch in front of the box openings sometimes helps, or a ramp, or stepstool type arrangement, or whatever.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[buckstrang]

thank you all for your input

 

[sillyaboutchickens]

Lynn,

Why No more than one foot off the floor?

 

[rickc24]

Ok my question is i have 6 boxes but i have 7 birds...i know that is to much so i will board up the rest of the 3 so i will have only 3 that they can use..is that right...?

 

[Chickn chick 46]

My pullet egg boxes are floor level and I have never found and egg in the upper level boxes (2 on the floor 2 on top of them) I use ping pong balls for encouragement. Every now and then I find one on droppings board

Maybe too dark to get to the nest box.

 

[emvickrey]

I have a couple of hens that decided they don't want to lay in the normal spot they're suppose to and have been laying at. They fly up on top of a couple of cages and lay up there. DB put up some chicken wire to keep them off but they managed to get up there anyway. One of them couldn't get up there today after I did a little re-work on it and she laid it on the floor after alot of yelling at me first. I guess i'm gonna put the dog crate back up there to see if thst is her problem. Everything has been fine all summer and now they get picky. "CHICKENS"

 

[Galaxiedriver]

We have 6 14 x 14 boxes for 20 hens. 3 boxes on top of 3 boxes. The bottom nests are 12 inches off the floor. We put the boxes in the coop at 18 weeks. At 20 weeks we put golf balls in the boxes and put in a light on a timer set to give 14 hours of "daylight." Got our first egg at 21 weeks. We started week 24 today and are getting 12 eggs. All of the eggs have been laid in the nest boxes. The nests have a piece of hoseable carpet in the bottom covered with straw. We often see two hens in the same box then soon find two eggs there.