If/When to remove the decoy eggs?

[TaraBellaBirds]

My girls are close to laying in fact I just found my first shell-less egg this morning. I found it under the roost, so I need something to let them know where to lay. What kind of "fake eggs" do you use? I've heard of using golf balls but don't they notice the size and shape difference?

 

[SunAndDirt]

Loads of people are successful with a golf ball or two per nest.
I found white wooden eggs at a craft store on clearance, so I grabbed those.
I don't know about anyone else's chickens, but mine are far from MENSA material, so I don't think they analyzed it too much. They found a cozy, quiet, dark place and thought "this might be a good spot- oh hey! There's already an egg! Perfect!"
Aside from the occasional "oops" on the roost, they have been really good about using the box.

I have a community box, and they WILL move all the fake eggs to one nest before they lay though.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Chickens don't really seem to notice as long as it is vaguely egg shaped, and they don't care about color, I've used those plastic easter eggs filled with sand before. There was a thread on byc onetime about what broodys were trying to brood, my favorite was the person who had a silkie trying to hatch a peach.

 

[SunAndDirt]

BECAUSE I said they have been good about using the nest box- I found two eggs in the quonset hut today!!

Bad Birds!