Hens stopped using nesting box

[Tellie29]

Good morning! I have had my original chickens for about 6 months, they were already laying when they were given to me and have always laid in the nest boxes. I added some young pullets to the flock and they were roosting in and on the nest boxes so I started covering them at night and taking the cover off when I leave for work around 5:30AM. In the last 2 weeks I went from 6-8 eggs a day down to 2-4, I just figured it was the time of year. Yesterday my son found 17 eggs all laid in the same spot, I still get those 2-4 in the nest boxes which means that I have at least 4 hens laying in this other spot. Is there any reason that the older hens started laying elsewhere? The only thing that has changed is that I started letting them free range all day instead of the 3 or so hours in the evening, but they still used the boxes for the first week or so. They have an enclosed run attached to their coop, should I just keep them confined to that for a few days? Is there anything else that I can do to get them to start laying in the boxes again?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Bush Louisiana. I used to take the Boy Scouts from Metairie to the Five Lakes campground there. Canoeing, swimming, and swinging on that rope to drop in the water, a great time.

I don't know what triggered your hens to move the nest outside. I'm glad you found that nest and that you have a big enough coop/run so you can lock them in there for a while. My suggestion is to lock them in the coop/run area for a week or more. Force them to lay in there and try to get them in the habit of laying in there. If you are sure they have laid for the day you can let them out late, but I occasionally have one that lays really late.

In the meantime collect all those eggs so they are not a reminder for them to lay out there.

Will this work? I don't know. It's worked for me in the past but not every flock is the same.

 

[Tellie29]

Hopefully keeping them locked up for a few days will do the trick. I started letting them free range during the day because their free range time has grown shorter and shorter over the last month. I feel bad for keeping them locked up, but I have almost 2 acres of land and I really don't want to have an egg hunt on a daily basis. All of the eggs have been collected, if they aren't "bad" can I cook them and feed them back to the girls? I don't know exactly how old they are, but they have been collecting for over a week.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you know it is less than a week you can eat them, but I always suggest cracking any of them into a separate bowl before mixing them. A broody hen can lay eggs in a hidden nest for two weeks then sit on them for three to hath them without them going bad. Feeding them back to the chickens is a great idea.

 

[Tellie29]

Thanks for all of your input, I think I will just feed them back to the chickens.