Laying Eggs on the floor....

[Valley Girl]

Hi,we have 25 hens that are laying just about every day and we usually find one maybe two eggs on the floor.Yesterday morning there was 10 on the floor!! Does anyone know what would cause at least half of them to do that? Thanks

 

[TexasVet]

My just-starting-to-lay pullets do that until they figure out what nests are for. Could also be that they don't like whatever you have in the nest boxes. Mine prefer hay over pine shavings. Another possibility is that mites or some other critter in the nest boxes annoy the hens when they're in there.

I'd change out all the nesting material, lightly dust the bottom of the nests with Sevin Dust, and add a few fake eggs to show them where they should be laying.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.ChickenTrackin.com

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I would guess that the spot on the floor is darker an more "tucked away" than the nests are. Thats assuming you have plenty of nests an nest eggs in them. Hanging a curtain in front of them may help.

 

[MIKE555444]

I have had this hen lay in the floor for 2 months... she refuses to lay in the nest...

I have tried everything including putting a hard piece of plywood down where she lays... She is ver stuburn and layed right there on the dry plywood for a week whe I finally gave up and moved the plywood lol

I tried adding the crate(in front of her in the pic)... I thought I might get her to lay in the crate and then move it up gradually...she wants no part of it either...

She is the only NHR I have ...

 

[A.T. Hagan]

When they first come into lay the urge seems to hit them all at once so sometimes a pullet will dump one wherever she happens to be standing. Eventually she figures it out and will head for a nest.

Which leads to the second reason which is that sometimes all the nests are taken. I try to provide a nest for every five hens, but they are never going to use them all evenly. They have their favorites (the ones in the corners) and the ones they don't like as much (the ones in the middle). If she can't get into the one she wants she may just go and lay them where ever.

Alternatively there may have been something in the nest that deterred her from getting in to lay. Sometimes it's a broody that fights everyone off, or it may have been a snake in the box, or who knows what.

.....Alan.