Nest Box Training Help Needed

[HogFoo]

My girls are about 18 weeks old and some have just started laying. Preparing for this, I built a nest box cabinet off the back of the coop (get eggs from outside) and put a Best Nest Box in it. Of course, I'm finding eggs everywhere in the coop except for in the nest box. I tried the usual stuff - ramp up to the nest box, putting obstacles where they were laying other eggs, etc. I even broke down and put the nest box on the coop floor in the spot where they lay most consistently thinking maybe if they start laying there then I can transition them to the Best Nest Box in the cabinet after. Still no luck. Of course, when I removed the Best Nest Box from the cabinet, one of them did end up using the cabinet as a nest box - go figure... I have a 10x12 Woods coop and the cabinet is about 18" high off the back wall. Do they eventually settle down and start using the logical spot (e.g. - my Best Nest Box) or is there other stuff I should be doing here? Any advice would be great. I'm hoping to train the first few correctly so the others start off right from the beginning once they start laying. Thanks for any help you can offer!

 

[FuzzyCritters]

What bedding do you use in the nest boxes? Maybe they just don't like the nesting material. You can also try putting a fake egg in the nest boxes to try to encourage them to lay in there.

 

[HogFoo]

Thanks! I have a couple of fake eggs in the nest box. It has a plastic astroturfy kind of grass inside (easy to clean), but I also put a bed of aspen shavings with nesting herbs in there thinking this might entice them to use the box. Trying to pull out all the stops. It's been less than a week though so trying to figure out if this is normal or not and what to do next.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any photos of the nest box and nest area as they currently stand?

 

[gtaus]

I built my nest boxes about 12 inches off the floor. I put fake wooden eggs in each nest box. The girls would jump up on the nest box rail and check out the eggs and nest boxes. When they started laying eggs, I found a few on the floor, but by and large the girls figured out that the nest box was the correct place to lay their eggs.

If you have fake eggs, I'd put them in the nest boxes. If you find eggs on the floor, then I would gather them up and put them in the nest box so the girls will get the idea that eggs belong in the nest boxes and not on the floor. I did not have any problems with my hens laying their eggs on the floor very much, but every once in a great while I will find a stray egg on the floor of the coop. Maybe one egg per month for my 10 hens. Not a big deal for me. I suspect my 3 nest boxes may have been occupied and a hen just could not wait.

I have seen some people put privacy curtains on the front of the nest box to make the hen feel more comfortable laying her egg in the nest box. Some people seem to think that encourages the hens to use the nest box. I have not needed any curtains for my girls, but it might be something to try if the hens continue to lay eggs on the floor.

Finally, at 18 weeks, your chickens are still very young and just figuring out this egg laying situation. I suspect they will probably figure it out on their own very soon. Good luck.

 

[MarkJr]

I’m one that uses privacy curtains. As soon as I put them up, they were checking them out.

 

[Mmfarm119]

My girls are about 18 weeks old and some have just started laying. Preparing for this, I built a nest box cabinet off the back of the coop (get eggs from outside) and put a Best Nest Box in it. Of course, I'm finding eggs everywhere in the coop except for in the nest box. I tried the usual stuff - ramp up to the nest box, putting obstacles where they were laying other eggs, etc. I even broke down and put the nest box on the coop floor in the spot where they lay most consistently thinking maybe if they start laying there then I can transition them to the Best Nest Box in the cabinet after. Still no luck. Of course, when I removed the Best Nest Box from the cabinet, one of them did end up using the cabinet as a nest box - go figure... I have a 10x12 Woods coop and the cabinet is about 18" high off the back wall. Do they eventually settle down and start using the logical spot (e.g. - my Best Nest Box) or is there other stuff I should be doing here? Any advice would be great. I'm hoping to train the first few correctly so the others start off right from the beginning once they start laying. Thanks for any help you can offer!

Would definitely try putting fake eggs in the boxes!

 

[aart]

It's been less than a week though so trying to figure out if this is normal or not and what to do next.

Give it time....every change might put them off a few more days.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The egg laying process is pretty complicated. The egg has to be formed correctly. Most get that part right but you can still get some really weird eggs while some are getting the kinks out of that part of the egg laying process. When to lay is part of that process. There are some triggers that tell a pullet or hen when to start the egg through that internal egg making factory so it's laid at the right time (during daylight). Some have to work on that timing, they may drop an egg for the roosts.

Where to lay is another part of that. Some pullets know it's coming so about a week before they look for good nesting sites. Others don't have a clue what is happening at the moment, let alone ahead of time. With all these different factors it's not that surprising that you can find eggs all over the place when a pullet starts. Maybe its laid when she is just walking around or even on the roost at night. To me the amazing thing is that so many get all of this right so often.

If you are finding the eggs scattered she has not settled on a nest yet. Give her time. If you start finding eggs in the same spot every day she has decided that is her nest. That is a different issue.

It's been less than a week. I agree with Aart's suggestion. Be patient. Give them time to get their act together. Sometimes the best solution is to be patient.

I built some of my nests so I can lock a hen in it if I want to. That ability has come in handy many times for different reasons. This is one of those. When I catch a hen laying in a nest where I don't want her laying, I catch her and lock her in a nest until she lays. That's usually about a half hour though I had one take 3 hours. Usually I only have to do that once to train her to lay in that nest. It's a pain but I found it to be effective.

 

[HogFoo]

Thanks for all of the helpful responses. I guess I need to just wait them out a bit and see how it goes. Here are a couple of photos of the nest box (interior and exterior) that people requested. Any other thoughts always welcomed! Thanks again.