Nesting boxes and golf balls

[EasterEggDrew]

Oh, and no sign of anyone checking out the nesting boxes, yet. I uncovered them three days ago, and filed with pine chips, and a single golf ball on top in each of the three nests. Totally undisturbed as of today.

 

[Shezadandy]

Just for grins I might leave one of your three boxes without the golf ball. It's been a while now, but my first layers wouldn't lay in the nest with the fake egg (ceramic) or the golf ball. Since then everyone else has watched what the big girls do, so I haven't had to use either. =) Any day now!

 

[aart]

Just for grins I might leave one of your three boxes without the golf ball. It's been a while now, but my first layers wouldn't lay in the nest with the fake egg (ceramic) or the golf ball. Since then everyone else has watched what the big girls do, so I haven't had to use either. =) Any day now!

Yeah, I had one pullet that wouldn't lay with the fake egg, at first, she got over it pretty quick.
She wasn't in with the main flock.

 

[twinsmom6]

I have found that ping pong balls work well too.. I feel pretty good about that because if they kick them out it wont hurt any one.. we just keep them in the nests, as it gives hints to them where to start.

It is not easy to predict when the girls will start to lay so I might open the nests now. Our first girls did not lay (orpingtons) until 6 months.. but I had a silkie that was laying daily when she was only 16 weeks.. that was odd because they say silkies can be up to 8 months old before they start. I have found that if they are squatting for you when you say hello .. they are ready and may have already laid an egg outside the locked up boxes.

I am not an expert but learning as we go.

 

[tomphot]

I have found that ping pong balls work well too.. I feel pretty good about that because if they kick them out it wont hurt any one..  we just keep them in the nests, as it gives hints to them where to start.

It is not easy to predict when the girls will start to lay so I might open the nests now. Our first girls did not lay (orpingtons) until 6 months.. but I had a silkie that was laying daily when she was only 16 weeks.. that was odd because they say silkies can be up to 8 months old before they start.

I have 8 in my mini-flock. They started between 19 and 22 weeks. The Silkies at 20 weeks. Only problem with the Silkies is that lay under the nest boxes in the corner of the coop. Strange as they have roosting up high with the other 6 since they were young.
Fake eggs are still in the boxes, no one seems to care.

 

[twinsmom6]

I have 8 in my mini-flock. They started between 19 and 22 weeks. The Silkies at 20 weeks. Only problem with the Silkies is that lay under the nest boxes in the corner of the coop. Strange as they have roosting up high with the other 6 since they were young.
Fake eggs are still in the boxes, no one seems to care.

Hi tomphot- so my silkie was laying her eggs on the ground under the roosting bar.. so what I did was put stones where she was laying so she found that less "comfy" or at least less desirable. I made a smaller nest box for her and closer to the ground as she does not seem as agile as the other chickens.. so I put a ping pong ball and one of her "ground" eggs in the nest and gently put her in there.... she got the hint and then laid in there... she is kind of silly though she buries her eggs under the nesting materials.. not sure why....

so maybe work on making that place she laid either inaccessible for a little while or make it less "nesty" use some of her other eggs to attract her..

 

[Ridgerunner]

I consider those walking toilet brushes .. er.. er.. Silkies special needs chickens because they can’t fly. They can jump and walk up inclined surfaces as long as they can get a foothold, so some roost up high or lay in nests off the ground but some sleep on the coop floor or lay on the floor or ground. Each chicken is an individual regardless of breed and our coops are all set up differently.

Most of my pullets start off laying in the nests. I use fake eggs (golf balls) even now, but I always have older hens laying already and the pullets seem to watch them and take their clue where to lay from the older hens. But most does not mean all. Right now I have a pullet that just started to lay that is laying in a corner of the coop, not in a nest. I have not figured out which pullet yet.

I build a couple of my nests so I can lock a chicken in there if I want to. When I catch a hen or pullet laying somewhere that is not my nests I take her off that nest and lock her in a nest until she lays that egg. That usually only takes a half hour though I’ve had some take three hours. Stubborn hen! It usually only takes me doing that once to get her to start laying in the nests, but that same stubborn hen took twice.

 

[DonHess]

I had forgotten about the soccer. I apparently have several ardent soccer players because I found most of the golf balls out in their playground after a day or two. At least they're having fun.

 

[Ridgerunner]

When I find fake eggs on the coop floor I raise the lip on the nest so it’s harder for them to scratch them out. If they scratch out fake eggs, they can scratch out real eggs another hen has already laid.

Another possible issue is that ping pong balls and those plastic Easter eggs are so light they are easy to scratch out. Before I started using golf balls I used plastic Easter eggs. I had to fill those with sand and glue them closed to stop them from scratching them out they were so light. Eventually the glue failed to stand up to their scratching so I switched to golf balls.

 

[DonHess]

My fake egg-golf balls I believe have been unnecessary. I have never had an egg kicked out nor any egg-eating hens. I used golf balls as a prevention, as suggested by this site. For me, I doubt it was necessary.

Don