How to get new layer to lay in a nest box?

[Lor]

The 16 wk old wyandotte is laying her eggs in the run behind the shade cloth we hung up. How should I get her to lay in the nesting box? The first time she checked them out (one day last week) one of the older hens chased her out of the coop so I'm assuming she is afraid to go in there.
She seemed to lay around 5;30pm yesterday. Should I watch for her pacing around that time and try to put her in a nesting box?

 

[All4Eggz]

Do you know around what time she lays the eggs? If it's in the morning, it may be a good idea to shut her in the coop for the entire morning and see if she lays in the nest box. Adding some golf balls always worked for me (the hens think they're eggs). The hens know where to lay if they see other eggs there.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Lor]

Do you know around what time she lays the eggs? If it's in the morning, it may be a good idea to shut her in the coop for the entire morning and see if she lays in the nest box. Adding some golf balls always worked for me (the hens think they're eggs). The hens know where to lay if they see other eggs there.

Good luck and keep us posted!

She seemed to lay around 5:30 pm yesterday. I tried putting her in a nesting box twice. She just gets right out. LOL I have a couple of those fake eggs in there.

 

[All4Eggz]

She seemed to lay around 5:30 pm yesterday. I tried putting her in a nesting box twice. She just gets right out. LOL I have a couple of those fake eggs in there.

Ah, okay.
Close her in the coop for the afternoon (before she lays the egg) until she learns.
That worked for me.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Duckduckchicken32]

You could put golf balls in the nest boxes. This helps them know where to lay.

 

[Lor]

You could put golf balls in the nest boxes. This helps them know where to lay.

I have 4 older hens who use the nest boxes. One chased her out of there a few days ago. I'm not sure if she just hasn't figured things out or is afraid to go up in the coop. The older hens lay in the morning/afternoon.

 

[rosemarythyme]

She seemed to lay around 5:30 pm yesterday. I tried putting her in a nesting box twice. She just gets right out.

When you put her in, did you try and keep her in there or just let her go?

(Copy/pasted, so some of the info you don't need)
Now this isn't practical if you don't have time to stalk them, but what I did was I learned the problem bird(s) laying schedules, and when they went to their preferred spot to lay, I'd go and pick them up, stick them in a nest box, and barricade them in using my arms to cover the exit. 30-60 seconds was all they needed to calm down and start exploring the box and decide that maybe it wasn't such a bad place to be. They each started reliably using the boxes after that.

Alternatively, some folks design "doors" on their nest boxes so birds can be locked in, which basically does the same as above, but forces the bird to stay in the nest box (whereas once I see them exploring and sitting down in the nest, I leave them to it and walk away).

 

[Lor]

When you put her in, did you try and keep her in there or just let her go?

The coop is about 4 feet off the ground. Nest boxes are attached to the outside so that's where I opened it from to put her in the first 2 times. Third time I opened the door to the coop that's in the area /side where the nest boxes are. I placed the fake eggs just in front of the nest boxes so she was sure to see them.
She didn't lay an egg yesterday that I could find.
Not sure what time she will lay if she skipped a day. (it was pretty hot yesterday.)
I'll keep watch.

 

[Battlepants]

Can confirm the golf ball method worked for me too. One ball in each and they seemed to catch right on.

Just be sure to remove the golf balls after it looks like they are going to be reliably laying. I left mine in too long and I think it caused one of my hens to go broody due to too many "eggs" around.

Good luck!

 

[ragingowl77]

Did you solve the problem? We are having the same trouble. 11 chickens and only 1 is laying in the nesting boxes. The others (the few that we think have started laying) are laying in the run and then the eggs are getting crushed and eaten.