No longer laying eggs in the Nesting Box

[amcgovn]

I have 5 RIR that are about 10 months old and they have been laying like clockwork in the nesting box all summer. This weekend, I put a good amount of straw in the coop to prepare for winter. This afternoon, I looked for eggs in the nesting box and there were none. Later on I went in the coop and they made a new nest in the corner and there were the eggs.

Should I be concerned that they did not lay in the box today. I am trying to layer the coop for the winter, but I do not want to start a bad habit of them laying in the coop and not the boxes.

any thoughts or advice? I have no problem removing the straw if it comes down to it, I was just trying to prepare for winter.....I live in New England

THANKS!!!!!

 

[AlienChick]

They are liking the nice layer of straw you threw in there.
Try putting a bunch more straw in their nest boxes and also put their eggs in there.
Smoosh down the straw in the middle of the nest to make it more "nesty."

 

[Chuckleberry]

Usually my chickens lay in the nesting boxes provided, but I find that,from time to time, they decide to lay 'off-piste', as I call it. I sometimes think that it might be because there is a queue to lay in the nesting boxes, and once they have found a new place they go there again and again. As all my chickens are completely free-range I don't always find the eggs immediately. On one occasion there were more than 30 when I finally tracked them down! To keep some kind of control I provide a range of other attractive nesting sites around the garden, such as a cat-box in the log-shed, an old lawn-mower grass catcher under a bush and an old plastic waste bin on its side, all of these lined with straw. It seems to do the trick, and I can now account for most of my eggs.