How to get her to lay where i want.

Jferlisi

i dont eat chicken!!!!
9 Years
Nov 2, 2010
1,362
5
153
Menifee CA
Ok so i have a silkie hen who just started laying 4 days ago. She has only laid 3 eggs and the first 2 where in the same spot in the coop. So i put a nesting box in that location. Mind you the box is a old grain bucket that is about 10'' wide and 12'' tall and 20'' deep. Well i went out this morning and she had moved to the other corner in the coop where there was a little hay on the floor for the babies. So i moved the box over there and put the feeder in the first corner. How do you all suggest i get her to lay in the box and not elsewhere? Should i take out the hay on the floor of the coop and only leave it in the nesting box or is the box to small?
 
No telling where she will lay next; I wouldn't take the hay out of the coop; at least she will drop the egg on hay if she lays in the coop.

I'd try different things for nests boxes -- you don't have to spend money, or not much -- cardboard boxes are fine, 5 gallon buckets on their side, etc. Mine have different preferences, some like open top nests, others like open fronts, one lays on the coop floor under a scrap of OSB that I left there one day, like 18"x24", leaning against the coop wall at an angle.

Do you use golf balls or some other fake egg?
 
Quote:
Thats what i forgot. I have a golfball in the big coop boxes but not her coop. I will try that tomorrow.
 
Golf balls....

I also had someone suggest to gently put the hen in the nest with the golf ball and put them in there a few times. I have now reformed 3 hens (some of this was patiently waiting).

This is reminding me to get the rest of the nesting boxes up!!!
 
Here's what happened to me, yesterday. I have one hen, her first season of laying, who decided to lay eggs on a bare shelf, in the tool shed. There is access, at all points, around the shed, so there was no stopping her.

I happened to be working in the yard, and could hear her, clucking around, inside the shed. I grabbed her and took her to the pen, and put her in a nest box, which the other hens aren't using. She jumped out. I locked her in, for about an hour, and then felt sorry for her, due to her efforts at getting out.

She went right back to the shed. This time, I put her in a nestbox, which is being used. She stayed for about a minute, then, it was back to the shed.

This game went on, for about two hours or more.

Finally, I had some laundry drying on the fence and grabbed a dark colored shirt, carried her to the pen, placed her in the unused box, and draped the shirt over the front......She settled down, stirred the litter, and ten minutes later, had laid an egg.

I do notice, that, when left to their own devices, they will pick a dark spot, with close confinement, over a nice open box, regardless of how luxurious you make it.
 
Golfballs are good to show them where to lay and also a good snake killer. The cant tell a difference for a egg or golfball. it is like playing a funny thick on the snake but teaching the Hens at the same time.
 

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