Lazy Chicken?

[oldfartfarmer]

my 6 comets pullets are well fed, happy free ranging, come when i call them,
but in the last week,
when i open the door to there home/condo
I've been seeing 1 egg on the floor,
and this morning 2 eggs, 1 broken,

I open up around 530-600 mostly 600am

will they drop an egg from there perch? instead of getting in there bucket?

what do i do?

thanks
john

 

[rapturecidal]

yes sometimes they do drop an egg out of place. and sometimes eggs crack, or just break. you win some you lose some. that's just chicken life.

 

[azygous]

I have one Welsummer, two years old, who almost always drops her egg from a perch in the run. I can only conclude she's purely lazy. Two days ago, another Welsummer dropped her egg right after the other one, out in the run. Good thing they both hit sand and didn't have a hard landing.

Those bucket nests don't appear to be big enough so that a hen can stand up in them. They almost always get to their feet as the egg begins to come down the chute, letting gravity assist them in getting it out. That could be your problem right there. If hens aren't comfortable in the nests, they tend to find other places to lay eggs. Or if there are no other choices, they hold it in until it falls out.

 

[aart]

I also found 5 gal buckets to be too small for nests...even for my smallest hen.
They can't turn around comfortably without bending their tails in half....or stand up to drop the egg.

 

[CherriesBrood]

I have one Welsummer, two years old, who almost always drops her egg from a perch in the run. I can only conclude she's purely lazy. Two days ago, another Welsummer dropped her egg right after the other one, out in the run. Good thing they both hit sand and didn't have a hard landing.

Those bucket nests don't appear to be big enough so that a hen can stand up in them. They almost always get to their feet as the egg begins to come down the chute, letting gravity assist them in getting it out. That could be your problem right there. If hens aren't comfortable in the nests, they tend to find other places to lay eggs. Or if there are no other choices, they hold it in until it falls out.

I agree completely! Younger chickens will have a tendency to lay in different places, and once one starts laying somewhere, others will see that egg and think that's where the nest is, and go lay there eggs there too. You just need to put like a fake golf ball or other eggs you find in the real nesting boxes, and they should learn that that's where they are supposed to lay.

Also like azygous said with the bucket laying boxes, they need to be able to stand up in there, and have more room to lay, they need to be more like boxes in another way. Hope this helps.