Nest boxes being ignored

[furbabymum]

Oh poultry loves to drive us crazy!

 

[loversday002]

i had the same problem :/ mine are wooden boxes though lol i put a perch underneith the boxes and for some reason that made them wanna go where i wasnted them to go o.o

 

[ChickensRDinos]

If they have not started laying yet it's possible they just might like hanging out down there. My chickens dig holes under my compost and think it is the best place to nap even though they have lots of lovely places that I made them that aren't gross. But, when they started laying they went in the boxes.

 

[steelchair]

I must be lucky. I have two nest boxes that I put one fake egg in each. From day one they all lay in one box. The other box, they move the egg around and make a ring of pine shavings but don't lay in it. Must be their practice box lol.

 

[ArchChix]

I have/had a similar problem to ladyrsanti. Our chickens free range both by choice and because the wire has not been installed on our coop to enclose it yet. Our Rhode Island Red began laying first. She layed in the middle of the garden first, where her egg got stepped on, not realizing we should be looking there! Then she made a nest on the other side of the fence from where they free range and layed one. When we blocked off her route to her nest, she practically killed herself trying to get back to it. We discovered her late this morning with no skin left on her back and tissue damage to her muscles. We aren't sure if she was attacked by the other chickens, or if she did it to herself, or both (we caught the others after the initial damage, attacking through the picket fence that separates the coop and garden from the rest of the yard). But there was no skin to even hope to repair and nurse her back to health. I am rather devastated that she had to be euthanized. Clearly, once they make a nest, keeping them from it is nearly impossible.

 

[furbabymum]

I have/had a similar problem to ladyrsanti. Our chickens free range both by choice and because the wire has not been installed on our coop to enclose it yet. Our Rhode Island Red began laying first. She layed in the middle of the garden first, where her egg got stepped on, not realizing we should be looking there! Then she made a nest on the other side of the fence from where they free range and layed one. When we blocked off her route to her nest, she practically killed herself trying to get back to it. We discovered her late this morning with no skin left on her back and tissue damage to her muscles. We aren't sure if she was attacked by the other chickens, or if she did it to herself, or both (we caught the others after the initial damage, attacking through the picket fence that separates the coop and garden from the rest of the yard). But there was no skin to even hope to repair and nurse her back to health. I am rather devastated that she had to be euthanized. Clearly, once they make a nest, keeping them from it is nearly impossible.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope your other chickens didn't attack her but then there's the fact that she did that to herself which is simply insane. I suppose I should be happy they're all doing it in one area so I don't have to search.