Pullet having hard time finding the perfect spot to lay

[phate008]

My 6 month old layed her first egg a day or 2 ago. I found it in the corner of the shed. They are living in an open 8'x10' shed that opens on one side into an 8' x 8' yard. There is a small coop on the inside of the shed which has a roosting area and 2 nest boxes. The nesting boxes have straw in them, but she doesn't go inside unless I am putting them (I have 3 pullets) to bed. I always find them roosting on top of the coop at dusk. I can tell she is stressing right now trying to find a place to lay. She is making a lot of noise out there. When I go in she is hopping on shelves and roaming all over the place. She did the egg song twice in the last hour, but alas, no egg. I put a cat carrier with straw on top of the shelf. She is going in and out, but not laying. I put a big piece of sod in the corner, still nothing. I am going to try and build some nest boxes on top of the shelf in the next day or so. Can I try anything else in the mean time? Should I just leave her alone and ignore the noise? I just dont want her to get hurt jumping all over the place. Thanks for the help.

 

[SueT]

Put some fake eggs or golf balls where you want her to lay.

 

[sourland]

Leave her alone to settle on a laying place. When you take her egg replace it with an artificial egg or several golf balls to encourage her to reuse that site.

 

[rosemarythyme]

A more hands on approach to try (if she just doesn't seem to get it even with fake eggs) is to pick her up when you see her pacing around and think she's close to laying, and put her in the nest box. Some folks have set up their nest boxes to allow them to lock a bird in, but I just use my arms to block off the entrance. Give her about 30-60 sec to settle down and start looking around and exploring the box. Hopefully she see the fake eggs, decide it's not so bad, and consider laying there. My last group of chicks didn't seem to notice the nest boxes were there so this was how I showed the boxes to them.

 

[phate008]

So she just laid the egg after struggling for a few hours. I took the cat carrier off the shelf because she kept trying to go behind it to a little 1.5' x 1.5' area. I didn't want her to fall so I screwed on a larger board and put a little straw on top. I heard her singing the egg song again across the house and when I went out there she was up on the shelf and the egg managed to fall safely onto piece of sod I placed on the floor. I placed a fake egg on the piece of sod below. Hopefully she doesn't get too attached to laying eggs with her butt hanging off a small shelf . I think I'm going to try making a more comfortable nest box on shelf. Thanks for the replies.

 

[aart]

I think I'm going to try making a more comfortable nest box on shelf.

Why not 'train' her to use the coop nests?