My hen is laying her egg while roosting...broken eggs

Hyacinth

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 9, 2014
1
0
7
We just got our for chickens in June and they recently figured out how to roost. They all crammed into the nesting box to sleep before. One of my hens is laying her egg while on the roost and of course they egg breaks. I'm not sure why she stopped going into the nesting box. Wondering if I should take the roost out so she will go back to laying in the box?
 
Hello and
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If you take the roost out they'll all sleep in the nest box and make it a terrible mess then probably go to laying on the floor, or just keep on giving you crappy eggs.

I'd put her on the nest box overnight perhaps for a while, though that can teach her to sleep there and one chook alone can fill a nest box with poop pretty efficiently...

There's a pretty decent chance she is only doing this because something is wrong with her, usually something serious. It's not natural for hens to lay at night time. But, there's another possibility, the more likely in my opinion because you only pretty recently got them...

Sometimes there may be an overdominating hen you're not aware of who is forcing subordinate hens to hold off on laying for so long that they lay on the perch at night. You may be having this issue. Two nest boxes with a wall between them and separate access is best for more than two hens, so subordinates don't have to risk the wrath of alphas in order to lay eggs in the right place at the right time for their bodies.

Best wishes.
 
I have an older hen who also drops an egg every once in awhile from the roost. I don't think she realizes she is laying an egg. Her eggs are good, but they crack when laid, so I was going to put some straw under where she roosts around the time I might expect another egg. It seems to happen about once a week. We do have a double nest box, but they all seem to use one side, or lay their eggs in the bush so we have to search for them.
 
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