Moving eggs?

[AliKnotts]

Hi I'm new to having chickens. I have 5 girls that should start laying around next month and 2 that are a little bit older and have already started laying. I have been getting around 2 eggs a day from my older girls but one of my younger girls has started playing with the eggs. She will push it around if I do not go get them around lunch time. Once I found her rolling it around in the middle of the coop and yesterday I came home and one egg was in the run... How do I stop this? And why is she doing that?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Welcome to BYC!
What is your nesting box setup like and are your older hens using the nest boxes?

 

[AliKnotts]

Yes the older hens (Easter Eggers) lay in the box and the young hen (White Plymouth Rocks) will get it out.

 

[aart]

Is there a good front on the nest box?
Something 3-5" high will keep bedding and eggs in the nest box.

Chances are the almost ready to lay pullet is inspecting the nests in preparation to lay herself.

New layers can be quite goofy acting, they don't know what they are doing at first and can be confused and anxious, it can take up to a month or so before they get it all figured out. Putting some fake eggs or golf balls in the nest might help show them where to lay. They may scratch around in the nests for weeks before laying. Meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.

You might want to remove the good eggs as often as possible to prevent the pullets from breaking them and discovering the deliciousness inside. Put some fake eggs and/or golf balls in a 1 or 2(but not all) of the nests to show the new girls where to lay.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Yes the older hens (Easter Eggers) lay in the box and the young hen (White Plymouth Rocks) will get it out.

Do you have any sort of "lip" on the front of the boxes? If so, how high up is it compared to the floor of the box? One of the first things I would suggest is increasing the lip to make it less likely that the eggs would be moved out of the box without the young bird putting considerable effort into it as this situation reads like a young bird starting to investigate nests, doing some scratching and digging and happening to get the eggs out in the process. Without a good, high lip on the front of a nest box it's pretty easy for eggs to get moved out with in the process of the next bird to come along arranging things to her liking.

 

[AliKnotts]

Thanks i will have to increase the lip on the boxes. Its only around 2 inches high.