Two days ago was the first day my two chickens starting laying eggs. We are so excited and can't wait for more. My question is how do I keep my chickens laying eggs in the coop only. I free range my chickens during the day and lock them in the coop at night to protect them from predators. Yesterday I found two eggs in my backyard instead of the coop. Are there any techniques to encourage them to only lay them in the coop. I'm worried I won't be able to find them if they lay hem elsewhere. Thanks
Greetings from Kansas, tarann, and . Pleased to have you aboard! You can try to disturb those areas where they layed outside to make them less appealing. Another option is to keep them confined in the coop/run for a week or so to get them used to laying in the proper place. It needs to become a habit. Make sure the next boxes have fresh bedding. Best of luck to you!
In my experience, the only way to make sure they lay in the coop is to keep them confined. Usually, you do need to keep new layers confined for their first month of laying to get them into the habit of laying in the coop. Then you can free range again. But you may need to confine for a week or two every now and then if you notice that some aren't laying where they should. It's one of the draw backs of free ranging. They will occasionally decide that their choice of nest spot is better than yours.
About the time our first group were getting to the age we started putting realistic wooden eggs in the nesting boxes. They by then were getting interested in the boxes so we put the eggs in there and they would jump in and out of the boxes and would see the eggs in there. Here is the link to the eggs we bought. They looked real, even fooled my hubby once LOL, and are heavy enough they won't fly out of the box like plastic ones.
Thanks for the information I have a feeling I will have the same problem. My chickens started laying about two weeks ago and we are just finishing up our nesting boxes. So I will try keeping them locked up. Should I use golf so they get the idea also?
Ditto Dat^^^ Free range birds sometimes need to be 'trained'(or re-trained) to lay in the coop nests, especially new layers. Leaving them locked in the coop for 3-4 days (or longer) can help 'home' them to lay in the coop nests. Fake eggs/golf balls in the nests can help 'show' them were to lay. They can be confined to coop 24/7 for a few days to a week, or confine them at least until mid to late afternoon. You help them create a new habit and they will usually stick with it. ..at least for a good while, then repeat as necessary.
Just adding my endorsement here, for what it's worth. Once I started getting eggs from this year's birds, I confined them to get them in the habit of laying in the boxes. I use rollout boxes, so I didn't really have the option of using teasers. I would check the coop a couple times a day to watch for birds trying to "nest" somewhere other than the boxes, and if they were, I would relocate them to an unoccupied box. I still find the odd egg on the floor once a week or so, but so far, since turning them back to range (three weeks) I haven't had any eggs laid outside that I can find, and I haven't noticed any off egg count days.
Like all other replies you have received..Lock them up for a week or so...They will forget about laying outside... Cheers!
