Nesting dilemma

[Madame Cluck]

I have four mixed breed pullets from tractor supply, which people have told me look like red sex links, and one cochin rooster. My pullets have only been laying eggs for about five or six weeks, and until recently I thought only two of them (Queen Eggster and Dotty) were laying. The problem is that yesterday my son discovered a nest with eleven eggs in our yard and saw a third pullet named Captain Cluck sitting on it. Our chickens have a 12x4 ft converted dog kennel reinforced with hardware cloth and a roof that I lock them in at night, but during the day, we let them out into an adjacent fenced in grassy pen. I had noticed that a couple of my pullets were flying over the fence of the secondary enclosure in the mornings when I let them out into our field, but they seemed to fly back in most of the time, and I was planning to take the fence down and let them start free ranging and have the whole acreage once they were laying regularly and I trusted them to follow me back to the coop at night.

I'm assuming the 11 eggs in Captain Cluck's nest out in the field are spoiled, since she's been cooped up at night and not sitting on them overnight. But I'm not sure what to do now. We have one nesting box in the coop that the other two hens have happily taken turns using. Should I buy more nesting boxes to encourage her to lay in the coop instead of out in the field? Should I destroy the nest she made to discourage her from laying there again or leave it and plan to gather her eggs from there? My son wants to try to hatch chicks, but I'd been told pullets needed to be older to hatch babies. Personally I'd rather just gather and eat the eggs and keep our flock small. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Madame Cluck]

Update...when we let the girls out this morning, Queen Eggster flew over the fence immediately and went to sit on the eggs. Is it possible the girls are all taking turns watching them or that both are laying their eggs in the same nest of eggs?

 

[chickenlickin8]

Sounds like it might be their daily laying spot instead of the nest box. You can try getting another nest box and putting a golf ball or ceramic egg in there to encourage them to use the boxes instead of the hidden nest. Can you keep them from flying over the fence?

 

[HEChicken]

You might need to lock them into the coop area where you want them to lay, for a few days up to a week. Chickens are creatures of habit and don't like change. As long as she has access to this other nest and thinks it is better than those in the coop, she will continue to lay there. You can destroy it but she will just rebuild it.

If you keep her locked in so that she is forced to lay where you want her to lay, she will be unhappy for a day or two but will then lay in the nestbox as though it was her idea all along and when you start to let her out again, "force of habit" will likely mean she will continue to return to the coop to lay.

 

[Madame Cluck]

Thanks so much for your input. I will try leaving them in the kennel/coop a few days. They had laid in the nesting box in the coop previously, but I guess a real nest of their own making seems better to them. I wish I could prevent them from flying over the fence, but it's four feet high, and they fly over it daily with ease. It's a big enough area, it would be really hard to put a roof over it. I will try putting a second nesting box in the enclosure and leave the old nesting box in the coop and see what happens.