How to make nesting boxes more attractive to your hens?

[Mrs. K]

Blocking off where they are laying now so that your nests are the next most attractive spot. But they can be notional. As long as I know where they are laying, it doesn’t really bother me, if I can get them.

 

[Perris]

As long as I know where they are laying, it doesn’t really bother me, if I can get them.

ditto. Since she resumed laying after moult, Fez has been laying in a quiet corner close to where she herself hatched; I got a photo of it this morning as it happens

the darker two are fake eggs to keep her laying there as I collect hers (and have done since I discovered it with 4 eggs about 2 weeks ago).

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some great stories on here. Takes me back to my youth when it was my job to find all the hidden nests from our free ranging hens. Two particularly stand out, both in hayloft with bales of hay that weighed about 50 to 60 pounds each. One was in the back of a tunnel formed by an uneven floor. It was back about 7 or 8 feet. When she went broody I gave her eggs to hatch and was lucky enough to see her getting her chicks about 10 feet down to the ground.

The other was on the face of a wall of haybales stacked above a corn crib. It was in the middle of a wall of hay. I had to climb up the slats enclosing the front of the corn crib to get to it. It is amazing to me how that hen found that spot to begin with. She had to fly a pretty good distance just to get to it.

But that does not answer your question.

What can I do to make the boxes more attractive?

Can you provide photos of your nests and give dimensions? Those might give us some obvious suggestions.

Fake eggs can often help. They do not always work but I keep a golf ball in each nest. I really think they help.

As you can tell from the stories some people can live with where they decide to lay.

When I built my nests I made a couple of them so I could lock a hen in them if I wanted to. That has come in handy for several different things. One of them is retraining a hen where to lay. I'm retired so I can be there all day, it helps.

When I find a hen laying where I do not want her to I take her off of that nest and lock her in one of my "real" nests. Often that involves running them down and catching them with a fishing net. Usually they lay an egg within a half hour of locking them in that nest but I've had one take over two hours. Usually once is all I have to do that for them to retrain to that new nest but I have had to repeat. Each chicken is an individual, they don't all react the same way.

There are other tricks, good luck on finding something that works for you.

 

[Just2chickens]

You could try making their nestboxes more like the places they choose to lay, like with materials where they can create a real nest, I have sand or dirt on the bottom, so that it's soft. Then woodshavings, and then hay, they go in and make a dimple in the woodshavings and rearange the hay like a real birds nest... And they like their privacy, somewhere in a corner and with something above them, they feel more secure then I think

 

[BDutch]

@Cheekychook12
Where are you?
Did you read all the comments/ideas and did you make a few photo’s?

 

[Cheekychook12]

@Cheekychook12
Where are you?
Did you read all the comments/ideas and did you make a few photo’s?

Sorry I’ve been busy
The design of the boxes is difficult to put straw or leaf litter inside because they are designed so the eggs roll back into a tray
I’ll get some photos after I eat lunch
I’m not going to free range then again until I fix the fence, it’s always been missing a few planks but I found a one metre gap they can easily stroll through
They used the floor of there pen to lay rather than the boxes

 

[Cheekychook12]

ditto. Since she resumed laying after moult, Fez has been laying in a quiet corner close to where she herself hatched; I got a photo of it this morning as it happens
View attachment 4037398the darker two are fake eggs to keep her laying there as I collect hers (and have done since I discovered it with 4 eggs about 2 weeks ago).

We have a bird called a currawong that visits our yard all the time, and loves to steal eggs, so if any eggs, even fake ones, are left out they will be stolen

 

[aart]

The design of the boxes is difficult to put straw or leaf litter inside because they are designed so the eggs roll back into a tray

Are the rollout nests new to them or....?
Have they ever laid in the coop nests?
Sometimes you need to use bedding at first in roll outs, until they get used to using them, then slowly remove the bedding to get the rolling action.

 

[Cheekychook12]

Blocking off where they are laying now so that your nests are the next most attractive spot. But they can be notional. As long as I know where they are laying, it doesn’t really bother me, if I can get them.

The problem with that is my entire garden is a good nesting spot except for the lawn

 

[Cheekychook12]

Are the rollout nests new to them or....?
Have they ever laid in the coop nests?
Sometimes you need to use bedding at first in roll outs, until they get used to using them, then slowly remove the bedding to get the rolling action.

I did do that and they layed in them but they have stopped now
I got the rollout nests because I don’t want them to go broody all the time