My RIRs started laying this week (19 wks old) and I find eggs everywhere but in the nestboxes.
I put the boxes in the coop a couple weeks ago with 2 golf balls in each. The girls checked out the boxes, left a few downy feathers in each, and then ignored them, as I expected. All good so far.
The day before the first egg, the nestboxes were trashed. Litter everywhere and golf balls rolled down the ramp into the yard. I tidied everything up and had a repeat experience 3 more times before finding the first egg ON TOP of the boxes. With 4 of them laying now, not one egg is in the box! The closest was about 6 inches away.
I switched out the milk crates I was using for nestboxes and put in larger storage containers this morning, fresh litter, golf balls, clean and pretty. No luck and poopy eggs!
Any ideas on how to get them to lay IN the boxes?
I put the boxes in the coop a couple weeks ago with 2 golf balls in each. The girls checked out the boxes, left a few downy feathers in each, and then ignored them, as I expected. All good so far.
The day before the first egg, the nestboxes were trashed. Litter everywhere and golf balls rolled down the ramp into the yard. I tidied everything up and had a repeat experience 3 more times before finding the first egg ON TOP of the boxes. With 4 of them laying now, not one egg is in the box! The closest was about 6 inches away.
I switched out the milk crates I was using for nestboxes and put in larger storage containers this morning, fresh litter, golf balls, clean and pretty. No luck and poopy eggs!
Any ideas on how to get them to lay IN the boxes?