Losing an egg a day!

[notsooldmcdonald]

Hi All-

I'm having an issue with one of my pullets. Searching the topic did not turn up any helpful information, so my apologies if this has been discussed previously.

Clearly, one of my pullets is laying an egg from the roost. Each day I find egg shells in the "poop pit" below the roost. How on earth am I going to convince her to lay in a nest box? (I even found an egg in the pen today! Geez!)

It just hurts to see such effort go to waste. Is there anything I can do about this problem?

-Christian

 

[swtangel321]

Hmmmm, How old is she ??? Has she been laying for a while ???

 

[Chicabee19]

Is it possible to put a layer of chicken wire under the roost so the poop falls through, but the egg does not?

 

[Ginger Chic]

Do you have a dog? We found out on Friday that ours was not only taking very good care of his girls, but he was also cleaning the nesting boxes out as payment. He even walked out with a marble egg and golf ball.

We now have one "egg sucking dawg" and one pop door about 4 feet off the ground with a cross hatched ladder for the use of all things fowl. That area is off limits for the canine rooster-wanna-be.

 

[swtangel321]

Quote:
LOL, He pulled one on you huh ???

 

[notsooldmcdonald]

Quote:
She's 17 weeks, 5 days old, and has been laying for probably four days.

I do have wire under the roost, and that's what the egg is hitting! We have a double roost, one lower board about 2 feet from the wall, and a higher roost about 1 foot from the wall. Both are set over a completely meshed in poop pit. It seems that the eggs are falling from the highest roost.

We do have a dog, but he's a bird dog and is a little too intent about pointing out that we have chickens, like "Hey, over here, I'm pointing, don't you notice that there are a whole bunch of birds _right_here_?"

Has anyone had any success resolving this issue?

I've thought about putting a nesting box in the corner of the meshed section of the pit, out of the way of the roost.

-Christian

 

[swtangel321]

She is still young !! I would give her a little time, when my youngest started laying there were eggs and yolks all over the place, Once they were laying for a little while they started using the nest box !! Do you have any fake eggs/golf balls in the nest boxes ??

 

[hatchaholic]

I have the same problem with one of mine. I have probably four or five laying (maybe a couple more) and they all use the nesting box except one. She keeps trying to make a nest under the roost in the poop. She has laid 3 eggs there, even as she watches the others in the nesting boxes. And, she gets mad when I take the egg, then spends a lot of time seeming to look for it.

Hopefully, in a little time, they will get the hang of it.

 

[Chicabee19]

Carry her over to the nest and let her watch while you put the egg in the nest.

Tell her "this is where you should lay your eggs!", then put her on top of the egg.

 

[notsooldmcdonald]

Quote:
That's probably not a bad idea. My husband "caught" her today, first thing this morning. He opened the pop door (around 6:45), and heard one pullet clucking the "I laid an egg" cluck from the upper roost. Underneath her was an egg smashed on the mesh, but still relatively warm.

Maybe putting a fake egg in each nest (since we collect in the afternoon and the boxes are empty overnight save one late/really early layer) would be a good idea.

Of course, I asked him if he could recognize the culprit; his response was "Well, she was red..."

And that as a description, esp. coming from someone who is colorblind, is not particularly helpful.