We got chicks at Easter for the first time. I am very new to all this but loving it. I have 7 hens and one roo (1 bo, 2 rir, 1 br, 1 blk sexlink, 3 ameraucanas). One Ameraucana stated laying on a shelf about 2 weeks ago. And a RIR started laying today - only it was in the soft dirt near coop while free roaming.
How do I get them to lay where I want them too?
We have a large fenced in back yard (approx. 3/4 acre) with 6 ft privacy fence. Lots of room to roam and I let them roam most of the day while I am at home. If we are not home, they have a large run (16ftX20ft).
We built the coop inside a large shed that houses tools and yard equip(Not a great pic but you get idea). Coop is a 8X4X6ft box in the corner of shed and we cut a hole in the side of the shed for them to get out.
We butted up an old white cabinet to use for their nesting boxes which are cat litter pans.
As you can see in the pick, we have wooden eggs in the cat litter boxes.
There are tons of feathers in the nesting boxes-so I know that they go in there. The only bad thing about the old cabinet is that the headroom between shelves is 11" on the bottom and only 10" on the top (and I read the were suppose to be 12x12x12). Is that enough room? The top shelf we could pull out the draws so they could have more headroom if we need too. But our Ameraucana still chooses to lay on the shelf.
The shelf she lays on is in the top left hand corner of the above pic.
The rest should be laying any time soon and would love to fix any problems. Need help! Do you have any suggestions on what I could do better or different? Do I need to not let them free roam until they get the hang of laying? And could I do anything to improve the nesting boxes and are they adaquate? Open to ideas and suggestions!
How do I get them to lay where I want them too?
We have a large fenced in back yard (approx. 3/4 acre) with 6 ft privacy fence. Lots of room to roam and I let them roam most of the day while I am at home. If we are not home, they have a large run (16ftX20ft).

We built the coop inside a large shed that houses tools and yard equip(Not a great pic but you get idea). Coop is a 8X4X6ft box in the corner of shed and we cut a hole in the side of the shed for them to get out.


We butted up an old white cabinet to use for their nesting boxes which are cat litter pans.

As you can see in the pick, we have wooden eggs in the cat litter boxes.

There are tons of feathers in the nesting boxes-so I know that they go in there. The only bad thing about the old cabinet is that the headroom between shelves is 11" on the bottom and only 10" on the top (and I read the were suppose to be 12x12x12). Is that enough room? The top shelf we could pull out the draws so they could have more headroom if we need too. But our Ameraucana still chooses to lay on the shelf.


The shelf she lays on is in the top left hand corner of the above pic.
The rest should be laying any time soon and would love to fix any problems. Need help! Do you have any suggestions on what I could do better or different? Do I need to not let them free roam until they get the hang of laying? And could I do anything to improve the nesting boxes and are they adaquate? Open to ideas and suggestions!
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