How to Encourage Nest Box Laying

[GodLovesU]

I recently bought my chickens a three section nest box. It’s a rollaway, because my chickens keep eating their own eggs. I had put artificial eggs in each box, secured with putty. I cleaned the coop today and put a layer of wood shavings in each nest. I put a thin layer of wood chips in the rest of the coop. Any additional advice to get them to lay in the boxes? My grandma will be caring for them for about 10 days and I would like for this to be as easy for her as possible.

 

[WingItRanch]

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Some people suggest curtains so they can have "privacy" but I just use the fake eggs and that seems to work.

Are these new pullets or older hens that just have an unfamiliar nest box to them? If they are not new-to-you hens, you may have to block off the location they used to lay before you got this new rollaway box.

 

[GodLovesU]

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Some people suggest curtains so they can have "privacy" but I just use the fake eggs and that seems to work.

Are these new pullets or older hens that just have an unfamiliar nest box to them? If they are not new-to-you hens, you may have to block off the location they used to lay before you got this new rollaway box.

They are aged 1-10 years old. The place they used to lay is behind their perches.

 

[WingItRanch]

They are aged 1-10 years old. The place they used to lay is behind their perches.

Maybe you can put bricks or something there to block it.

Any luck with the new boxes?

 

[GodLovesU]

Maybe you can put bricks or something there to block it.

Any luck with the new boxes?

Nope.

 

[WingItRanch]

After a little digging, it seems hens don't really like the material in the rollaway boxes. So you may have to add straw or something (which I know defeats the purpose and will prevent rolling). However, once they get used to the boxes, then you can remove the straw.

I found this comment by @BlueDawnRising as an example:
Post in thread 'Can I have your Rollaway Nesting Box Suggestions?' https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...nesting-box-suggestions.1665853/post-28641203

 

[redinator]

Following . . . first time chicken keeper with a first time layer . . . I'm probably doing it all wrong, lol.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Tried the ol' wooden egg with our BLK AUS, we had a failure to communicate, kicked 'em out of the box and all lay in the same corner of the coop. OK by me, we still get eggs. Wooden eggs did work with RIRs and BAR RKS though, birds, go figure.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Ceramic eggs. That’s how I get 24-7 free rangers to use nest boxes. Hens instinctively lay where other hens have laid. The presence of a previous egg tells them the nest box is safe.

Why ceramic? Because it glows like a real egg. Shine a real egg and a ceramic egg with a UV light. You’ll see they’re pretty close in color and glow intensity. Chickens see in UV. Eggs likely glow to their eyes. A fake egg that doesn’t glow probably doesn’t register as an egg at all when they look at it.

 

[BlueDawnRising]

I did have trouble getting my pullets to lay in the rollaway as WingItRanch said and I pretty much told the whole story in that post. Since then though, my new layers have mostly taken to the box but I have had a few that were chased out by my established layers and some broodies. The Hen Gear box is “community” style and doesn’t have individual boxes. Until my newest layers started visiting the box, this wasn’t a problem. But my established layers didn’t like sharing so this took some intervention. For example, I was home a few days and when I would see a new layer nesting on the floor, I would gently lift her into the box and close the roost bar so she stayed in until she laid or until she seemed stressed. I sometimes had to move established layers out of the box to do this, depending on how they reacted when I put the new layer in. If I found an egg on the floor and could identify who laid it, I put the egg and the pullet in the box together. It took some vigilance but they caught on within a few days, once I started intervening. I will still occasionally find an egg on the floor but not daily and it doesn’t seem to be routine. I have wondered if they get tired of waiting for a spot and just decide to drop the egg where they are! Also, they are new layers so might not even know it is happening. Anyway, hope this helps! Good luck!