Nest Box Tips

[SophiaSussex]

Hello Fellow Layer Friends-

I have 13 girls, about 6 or 7 whom just started laying in the last few weeks & am wondering if anyone has tips or tricks to get my stubborn girls to lay in their nest box.

Right now, i am getting about 5 or 6 eggs a day. 3 of them are regularly laid in a box. The other 2 or 3 are laid in a corner or a short distance from the boxes. Today 2 of the 3 that were laid outside the boxes were a crushed gooey mess. I am hoping to fix this behavior to save future eggs and prevent the girls from making a habit of eating them.

I have 6 boxes & each are cleaned and have shavings in them. I used to bed with straw, but one comet kept pulling & kicking the straw out. I am thinking of trying straw again but only in half the boxes & putting a ceramic egg in each.

Any other suggestions?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Perhaps post pictures of your setup to extract ideas from the group here.
The ceramic egg in the boxes is a must.
Most hens like a darker, quiet place but slightly elevated with a perch in front so she can peer in before entering.

 

[SophiaSussex]

Perhaps post pictures of your setup to extract ideas from the group here.
The ceramic egg in the boxes is a must.
Most hens like a darker, quiet place but slightly elevated with a perch in front so she can peer in before entering.

Ill post a picture when i go out to the coop next. But basically they are at ground level, with a ledge that the chickens can stand on. They are built into a prefabed coop.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Fake eggs, or golf balls definitely a help. I draped dark fabric over the top and part of the front of a couple of my boxes to makes them darker and more attractive still, seemed to have helped for a couple of the birds.

Birds kicking straw out is like a dog turning circles on a favored pillow - all I can suggest is a little lip on the box, and keep filling them. Eventually, they'll be satisfied, and will have a nest of mostly packed straw, then that behavior slows some.

After that, I got nothing. Sounds like you are taking the right steps, they just need to learn

 

[aart]

Deep lip, with flakes of straw crammed in and bowled out a bit works well here.
New layers make a real mess out of nests at first, they figure it out after awhile and do less messing.
Fake eggs a must, IMO...have had one in each nest for 7 years.

 

[SophiaSussex]

Deep lip, with flakes of straw crammed in and bowled out a bit works well here.
New layers make a real mess out of nests at first, they figure it out after awhile and do less messing.
Fake eggs a must, IMO...have had one in each nest for 7 years.

Thank you! They sure are a mess. This morning they scratched out half the bedding, and a couple fake eggs!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thank you! They sure are a mess. This morning they scratched out half the bedding, and a couple fake eggs

Then I suggest raising the lip on the nests 2 to 3 inches to help hold the bedding, fake eggs, and real eggs in. That stopped them from scratching that stuff out of my nests when I had that problem. For what it is worth, when a hen scratched a fake egg out of a nest, another hen laid an egg next to it on the coop floor. When I fixed the lip and put the fake egg back in there the hen then laid in the nest.

The egg laying process is pretty complicated, not just how to put the egg together but when and where to lay it. Most seem to get it right from the start but it's not that strange when they first start to get some really weird eggs that may be laid anywhere at any time. You did mention that yours had just started to lay. So my first suggestion is a little patience.

If the eggs are showing up in the same spot every time then that pullet has decided that is her nest. A fake egg in the nest may help that, maybe not. I made a couple of my nests so I could lock a hen in there if I wanted to. that's come in handy a few different times. When I have a hen laying where I don't want her to, I wait until she is on the wrong nest laying and lock her in a nest until she lays that egg, usually about a half hour though one hen took three hours. Usually once is all it takes to get her to start laying in that nest. Usually. I'm retired so I can dedicate some time to catching her on the wrong nest, many aren't that lucky.