leave one behind?

[ryansmommy83]

ok so im a little confused. when you have some newer chickens in a coop are you supposed to leave an egg behind so they think they have a " safe nest " or is it ok to just take the eggs out and leave nothing ? should i put the wooden eggs back in because out of 6 only 2 are laying and its not even daily.

picky chickens!

 

[conny63malies]

just keep some golfballs in the nests. My grandma used to keep eggs made out of plaster of paris in the nests.

 

[gritsar]

I would put the wooden eggs back in. My girls have all been laying for awhile, but I still leave golf balls in the nest.
Leaving real eggs in there means taking a chance that the real egg could get broken and the chickens discover it.
ETA: It's not uncommon that the girls that have just started laying wouldn't lay every day. It may be every other day or two days in a row, followed by one off. It's very erratic at first.

 

[chiknhut]

I put a golf ball in some of mine and I bought some plastic eggs that were camoflauge (since they lay dark eggs) and put in the rest. They lay in both setups.

 

[ryansmommy83]

wow i never knew chickens were so touchy ! ok im going to put the wooden eggs back in !

 

[baltimoreharps]

Is this something that should be done always? We have a small flock for the first time and they seem to be laying nicely since we got them last week. Or is this to be done when laying laggs?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
It's not a must do, but if you have young pullets that are just coming up on laying age it doesn't hurt. It lets them know that the nest boxes are a safe place for laying eggs; after all the hen that lays the golf balls thinks so.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I put in a blue easter egg, and they think it's just fine... though if I let my kids gather the eggs, the blue plastic one usually ends up in my fridge too.

 

[basicliving]

I keep a fake plastic egg in each nest. Some kick it out when they go into the nest to lay, but most seem to really like it. It's fun to watch them carefully tuck the fake egg underneath them as they set and wait to lay their own egg. As long as most seem to like it, I'll just leave the fake eggs in there.

 

[paddock36]

I put them in the different nest boxes because my hens all wanted to lay in the same box. It worked. They don't fight over the same box.