Just started laying eggs on poop board and coop floor

drinkoj

Chicken Chaser
5 Years
May 24, 2020
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Upstate South Carolina
So 6 of our 11 pullets began laying 2 weeks ago in the nesting boxes with out a problem; we have golf balls as fake eggs in all 3 nesting boxes. We haven't gone inside the coop for about 1.5 weeks as we have a door to pull the poop boards out for cleaning. This Sunday I went into the coop and found 2 eggs on one of the poop board with PDZ in it, then this morning my wife went in to look around and found 2 more eggs in the corner under the poop board next to the chicken run door in the pine shavings; I didn't look on the coop floor last night as it was getting dark. We did have 2 days were the two pullets took a day off from laying and we're guessing the found eggs might be theirs, but not sure. Might we have some new layers not using the boxes or are some of the 2.5 week old pullets changed their preference. Thoughts?

I originally had straw in the nesting boxes but the pullets decided they wanted to redecorate and kick in a bunch of pine shavings from the coop floor and haven't given it a second thought. Wondering this is a of the girls telling me they want straw in there for them to lay?

Just want to "train" them right, so we don't go digging in the coop flooring and in the run if we can avoid it.
 
When they first start laying, their bodies just take time to get the process down. Mine have been laying 2 months and I still get an occasional egg being laid from the roost. I only have one who will get down from the roost to nest, the others just let it fall.
 
Mine just started laying (a couple of them anyway) and my GLW has been laying in the nesting box like clockwork. My hamburg who just started laying, I found her eggs in the hemp bedding we have in the bottom of the raised coop. However...not sure if she laid them there or if she is trying to hide them to sit on. I know hamburgs aren't supposed to be broody, but her first egg was found in the corner of the coop with one of the Wyandotte's brown eggs.

We tried putting straw in the nesting boxes and the girls scratched it all out...now when my GLW lays her eggs, it sounds like a jawbreaker making it's way out of a gumball machine when it pops out onto the wood bottom of the nesting box. :)
 
I originally had straw in the nesting boxes but the pullets decided they wanted to redecorate and kick in a bunch of pine shavings from the coop floor and haven't given it a second thought. Wondering this is a of the girls telling me they want straw in there for them to lay?
Pics of nests please?

Pullets are notorious for tearing up nest bedding and laying wherever.
Would be good to check inside coop daily until the get the nest habit down.
 
Pics of nests please?

Pullets are notorious for tearing up nest bedding and laying wherever.
Would be good to check inside coop daily until the get the nest habit down.
When I get home tonight I'll post some. Wife went inside the coop this morning and found a broken egg on the poop board. She thinks they knocked it around as they fight for position on one of the roosts, but I've now to make sure I don't have a egg breaker/eater on my hands.
 
Last edited:
@aart. Here are pictures of nesting boxes from when I was building the coop. There is a 3 inch lip in front of them to keep material inside.
 

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