Nesting box height.

[21hens-incharge]

Maybe someone was in there checking out the nest box and cracked it with all their kicking things around.

 

[lagrange chicks]

Not sure what happened to it then - maybe it was eaten. I'm not sure why you put it in the nest box instead of taking it in with you? Just having 1 fake per box is enough to give them the impression of "this nest is safe for laying."

I put the egg in the nesting box because I didnt want the chickens seeing it on the coop floor and meant to grab it when done increasing the nest box height but had my hands full of tools and figured i would grab it next trip to the coop. I have gotten 3 eggs since then, hoping the problem is over.

 

[lagrange chicks]

Maybe someone was in there checking out the nest box and cracked it with all their kicking things around.

Very well could of been, they were really checking the boxes out after the increase in box height. On a 2nd note, the eggs I have gotten have very thick shells.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I put the egg in the nesting box because I didnt want the chickens seeing it on the coop floor and meant to grab it when done increasing the nest box height but had my hands full of tools and figured i would grab it next trip to the coop. I have gotten 3 eggs since then, hoping the problem is over.

Was asking why the egg was back in there because some folks on here believe in using real eggs instead of fakes, which isn't recommended since they can be broken, so good to know that wasn't the issue.

Hopefully the problem was a one time thing and you're good to go from here!

 

[DarkKnight]

Your boxes are big enough. Your issue is these are new layers so they need to learn to better control when and where they lay, and need to learn that the nest box is your desired location. Photos of nests and placement in the coop may help, but this might be something you'll need them to figure out in the upcoming weeks.

Photos of nests and placement in the coop? I can do that. Will 8x10’s do, and do you think the hens need the pictures in color? I can stick them up right across from the roost bar so pictures of nests is the first thing they see when they wake up in the morning.