Retrain a hen?

[1 acre willows]

12 or 14" square about 18" tall

Picture is without the top on there's a nice 45 deg ish angle for the top

 

[AudieWarren]

May the force be with you.... I'm going on an egg hunt this afternoon bc only half of mine will lay in the boxes. When I pen them up, they do what needs to be done to get free again. Then it's back to ground zero

 

[Starwise]

One of my new hens is laying an egg underneath the coop, in the run. I haven't been able to deduct which of the few possible it is yet though. Beautiful chocolate brown egg, so I'd like to catch the one in the act. Hoping this weekend I can spend time supervising. There was 3 or 4 that laid their first ones in the run but since then they have followed the suit of the older girls and done their business in the nesting boxes. Just this one seems to like the sand more than comfy bedding...

 

[blippitydar]

i think I'll be facing the same - mine are young still and not laying, but typically out all day long. Will be facing that eventually - like the idea of leaving them in until noon and then letting them out after they lay. Too hot here to start that habit just yet tho.

 

[Sundevill11]

I can totally relate to the frustration of this topic. The pictures below should say it all. The most ridiculous thing about this is that multiple hens will compete for this spot.

 

[alyssa.leigh]

Be grateful you don't have ducks - it's an egg hunt in the yard, the pond, the coop, the run, and the woods! I never win

 

[Cookncluck]

Only one of my hens will use a nesting box. Habits are hard to break... I’ve tried ceramic eggs in the boxes, moving the eggs into the boxes. My boxes have curtains to make it nice and cozy. But nothing’s stopped my girls from laying in the coop floor. I’m just glad my girls still go in the coop to lay and it’s not an Easter egg hunt every evening!

You know, I put cute curtains in my hens’ nest boxes and they stopped using the boxes, I removed the curtains and they started using the boxes again. As much as I enjoyed the curtains ... guess the chickens found them distressing.

 

[1 acre willows]

Busted! Laying in a non laying area......