My Easter Egger insists on laying her eggs from atop a three foot high perch!

[Cymry]

In the past few weeks two of my Easter Egger's eggs have been cracked all over, but her eggs also have a very thick membrane, so they didn't leak out. I suspected that she was laying them from the perch. Today I witnessed her lay an egg from the perch, but there was enough wood shavings to soften the fall, so it didn't break. Is it possible to train her out of this habit, or should I keep a bunch of straw under the spot where she roosts?

 

[gardengirl4288]

Has she just begun laying recently? Is the roost removable that you could take it away during the day or at least until after she lays her egg? If not thick straw beneath and moving her to the nesting area whenever possible may be your only option... she should figure it out though!

 

[cstronks]

This is bizarre. Normally chickens will lay in an area where they feel the most safe. Is it the same roost that your easter egger sleeps on? Also, if you have the opportunity, you should go in when you see her on the roost and attempt to put her in the nesting box. If it is not the roost that your birds normally sleep on, then I would suggest removing it.

 

[MeepBeep]

Make her aware of the nesting box area, make it friendly to her as well by putting it away from other chickens that will bother her, if she doesn't like the nesting box she won't use it they are funny that way and even if you had 20 nesting boxes many times they will favor the location of just a few... Introduce her to the nesting box and add a golf ball or artificial egg or two into the nesting box to give here a visual hint of where to lay...

 

[Cymry]

She started laying a few weeks ago. The roost is screwed in so it would be difficult to remove it. I have three sex linked hens who lay in a nest box and one barred rock who lays in the corner of the coop, and sometimes in the run. The Easter Egger and the Barred Rock were the last to start laying so maybe they will catch on. Fortunately they both lay in the afternoon so I should be able to intervene.

 

[cstronks]

Good point. Young birds generally take some time to understand, but after a week they should have caught on. If you can buy any wooden eggs to place in the nesting boxes then maybe the birds will see them and begin to lay in the box.

 

[Cymry]

I have three nesting boxes. My three Sex Linked hens all lay in the same box every day. The other two go unused. The Sex Linked lay their eggs early in the morning, but the Easter Egger and the Barred rock lay in the afternoon. Maybe I should leave the early eggs in the box till afternoon.

 

[gardengirl4288]

The first couple weeks with my girls they would lay eggs wherever they happened to be hanging out until they caught on to the nest box/coop corner (only inches out of the nest box and typically used when someone else was taking too long in their favorite nest box) one even was laying them in the dust bath under their coop ladder

 

[gardengirl4288]

But they all lay them in the designated spots now

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I have three nesting boxes. My three Sex Linked hens all lay in the same box every day. The other two go unused. The Sex Linked lay their eggs early in the morning, but the Easter Egger and the Barred rock lay in the afternoon. Maybe I should leave the early eggs in the box till afternoon.

It is very common for one box to be favored - do you have any "bait" eggs in the nests (golf balls, fake eggs, etc)? The bait works on the same premise that leads all three sex links to lay in the same box - seeing an egg in a place indicates to the next bird that the nest is a safe place to lay because someone else already has used it. You can leave the morning eggs, yes, or use bait items to "seed" the nests.