Not laying in run?

[fmernyer]

I posted once before about the chickens laying in the run and the consensus was I needed to relax - lol - I'm paraphrasing.

But now I'm trying to keep track. Seems I get 4 eggs if I leave them in the coop until 1 am or later - but I get 3 eggs on the days I put them in the run at around 10:30ish. There's a box in the run - last week I had a cat carrier with bedding and a golf ball - this week I'm trying a cardboard box with the same. In the run they ignore any boxes and just lay in the bedding. You'd figure they'd just lay on the ground in the run. They don't.

What's up?

 

[mickey328]

You're wanting them to lay in the run instead of the coop?

Most chickens have an instinct to have a "nest" of some sort rather than just laying on the ground. Wherever you want them to lay, the best would be to make a good nesting area for them. Ours prefer something fairly dark and private, covered in except for the entrance area. We had an open box and only 2 of the 6 would use it...the others laid on the cage floor. When we put in covered boxes, they all use them.

 

[fmernyer]

Ech - I lost my last reply.

I want them to lay where they're happy laying - but the last one to lay in the coop lays late in the afternoon. I put two different kinds of boxes in the run and I'll keep trying - but I just want them to get out into the open air instead of being in the coop all day 'waiting' for the last one to lay, ya know? Or is that the wrong way to think?

Can they just decide not to lay? Is that possible? Will that lead to being egg bound? Or is she finding somewhere else to lay much later in the day when I let them free range for an hour or so?? (I've been looking for stray eggs and just can't seem to find any!)

 

[mickey328]

No, laying is part of their makeup. It generally takes between 21 and 36 hours for an egg to go through the process, so you'll get sort of rotating times for them to lay. We have 6 hens and haven't yet had a day where we got none or 1...just a few at 2, only one day did we get 6...most days it's 3, 4, or 5.

I wouldn't keep them cooped up all day either. Ours are out pretty much at first light (or whenever we get up, LOL) We leave the ramp down and they go inside to lay then come back out and head straight for the food...guess it's hungry work! I gather throughout the day since they all seem to like the same box and I don't want it to get too stuffed with eggs. It's very, very rare that there's an egg in there when I let them out...think it's only happened once. Generally between dusk and dawn ours hunker down inside and just sleep.

If you can encourage them to use the nesting boxes, it'll make it a lot easier for you to gather them by simply having them all in one place. Plus the chance of them getting damaged is far less. Since some do use the boxes, you might try leaving some fake eggs or golf balls in them to encourage the others to use them as well. Can they in and out of the coop freely during the day? If so, they might well figure out that they can go in to lay and then come back out to scratch and be with their pals.

 

[Den in Penn]

I would keep them in the coop/run until I was sure they were laying in the boxes. You could start to leave them out late in the day. Say about two hours before sunset. Watch where the late layer is laying if she hasn't laid yet. Best would be to hold them until she lays. Yes they can hold unto the days egg for a while till they can get to where they want to lay, but only for a while. My pop door went closed one morning and one of them couldn't hold it and dropped it in the run. I found out about the situation when I went to gather the eggs before noon. The rest of them did hold.

 

[fmernyer]

This morning I went out at 10:30 am and gathered three eggs from the coop and let them into the run (I don't have a set up yet where they can go back and forth by themselves).

I kept checking the run - no 4th egg - so I tried putting them all back into the coop for a while. There's my 4th egg. So its possible that I'm not always getting 4 but its more likely they don't like the laying accommodations in the run.

At the end of the day I let them free range before they turn in for the night so I guess my 4th layer is finding somewhere in the yard to lay (still can't find it!! argh!)

So I guess I can leave them in the run from now on until that last one lays? (rather than coop them up)

 

[Den in Penn]

Bit more of a problem when you have a split coop and run. If the fourth was holding it for the coop nest that would give an approximate time she will lay. After that time is when I would move them to the run.