How do I know when my chickens will be close to laying eggs? Behaviors?

[aart]

I set up their nesting boxes. Complete with gulf balls. No sooner did I move away from them then 4 of my 10 pullets jumped into them & started trying to nest.

Yep, they are pretty curious about stuff, when they're not freaked out about it.
Are your nests lower than the roost?
Make sure they don't sleep in the nests.

 

[Skyleen13]

Yep, they are pretty curious about stuff, when they're not freaked out about it.
Are your nests lower than the roost?
Make sure they don't sleep in the nests.

Nests are down low but outside the coop. They don’t normally sleep in them.

 

[aart]

Nests are down low but outside the coop.

Entrance to nest sis inside coop, but nests hang outside of coop?

 

[Skyleen13]

Entrance to nest sis inside coop, but nests hang outside of coop?

Boxes & entrances outside coop. My coop didn’t come with nesting boxes. I made some out of scrap wood I had around the house. Since I couldn’t cut into the coop without compromising it I instead placed the nesting boxes off to the side of the run on the ground. They aren’t sleeping in them. It’s off to the side & away from everything else so it’s quieter. They also have a big area under the coop that they like to nest in & they do sleep in there.