Not laying in nest boxes

[dtabor]

So Friday, right on schedule, one of the girls layed her first egg. We have been looking in the boxes each day but my daughter found it in a depression in the shavings UNDER the box. I have the four boxes (milk crates) just up on cinder blocks to keep them off the floor. Today I heard one making the different noises in the coop so told my wife to check for eggs when she got home. She said there was one egg but it was on the floor on the opposite side of the coop in the shavings.

The same shavings are in the boxes and there are fake eggs there. I can tell that they have been checking the boxes out.

How do I get them to lay in the boxes??

 

[dtown2002]

Try to train them to lay in the boxes. My Australorp was laying in the nesting boxes for 3 eggs, then she laid them in the corner for the other 3 eggs. What I would do is keep putting them in the nesting boxes so they get used to using them. Also, mix the shavings around so they cant make a nest. Hope this helps!!

 

[Dmontgomery]

I found an egg every day in shavings under a roost area. I would find one in a nesting box and one under the roost. Nest day 2 in the box and 1 under the roost. Next day 3 and 1. I finally got the idea that either nobody wanted to lay their first egg in the box or else the first egg always just fell out of them and they didn't know what was happening. Now that all lay regularly, I never find them under the roost anymore. I think yours might catch on to it too. At least they don't free range and lay out in the woods.

 

[bobbi-j]

They're just starting. They'll catch on.
I have 20 pullets. Today I had 9 eggs. Five in the coop, two under the coop, and two in the machine shed. I'm hoping they'll catch on sooner or later. Mine free range, so I could have piles of eggs in sheds, the old barn, in the tall grass around the coop area... This afternoon I put a plastic dishpan with straw in it where the pullets are laying in the machine shed. I'm also going to put a fake egg in there. I guess as long as I know where to look, I don't get too excited about it. I did have all the chickens locked in the coop for about 48 hours when we were gone last weekend, and still only got 10 eggs a day. Not sure if they're not all laying yet, or some of them just crossed their legs and held it in until they got to their laying spots.