Newbie with egg laying help!!

[redbirdwhitebird]

Hi everyone I am new. I have 2 hens, both around 18 weeks. 1 has started laying. I got an egg Friday, Saturday and Monday. She has not layed any more. Also they are closed up in a coop at night and I have a nesting box hung and a roost. Every morning I take them out to a pen which has a dog igloo and a box which hangs off the pen which I filled with straw, but it's always scratched out at the end of the day. She has layed an egg in the igloo and the nesting box in the coop on Saturday because I was at home to let them free range. Is this ok that she lays on the ground in the igloo? I am eventually going to fence in around the coop so they have access to the nesting box during the day. Once the other hen starts laying do I need to put up 2 boxes or will they use the same one. Thanks for your help.



Damn I love those chickens.....

 

[DonnaBelle]

Yes, those chickens can be addicting. I would say they will work it out on their own, they do tend to be a bit scatterbrained until they are about 6 mo. old.

If they are laying in the nest they will prefer that, they like dark and privacy when they lay.

Good luck, I got my first 3 chickens (5 mo old)last September and when I got my first egg I was really delighted. They have continued to lay every day since then, I keep waiting for them to slack off but so far, they are still at it. Some days I get 2 eggs, but most days 3.

DonnaBelle

 

[Judy]

One nest box is enough for 4 or 5 hens, certainly for two.

Is there a barrier across the lower part of the nest box? Like a 3" or 4" lip? It might cut down on the scratching the bedding out a little. You can also use an open top nest. I have several standard nesting boxes plus two larger plastic open top bins in my coop with 22 hens. One of the plastic bins is the top of a covered kitty litter pan, upside down. This is their favorite nest. They only use 2 of the 5 standard nesting boxes. They like the open top plastic bins better.

Oh well, at least they don't scratch the litter out of them.

Oh, they started laying maybe 5 weeks ago. At first, several of the eggs were laid on the coop floor. For the last week, they have all been in the nest boxes. I do have a golf ball in each nest box.