Rogue Hen lays on the move

[Woodchick]

I have one hen out of 6 that is laying eggs while on the roost, while walking around the coop and when I let them out to freerange she will just drop it, almost like she doesn't know it's coming. (Is that possible?)
Today she layed it in the compost pile and one chicken pecked it and now unfortunately they all know that what's inside is really yummy. I caught the process early and hopefully removed it quickly enough.
The Facts-
The hens are first season layers. The coop is a big open air coop off the ground with a run. They get lots of oyster shell. They are free rangers from 9-6 but eat their layer ration too throughout the day. I can't pick out the rogue but all of them look very healthy with bright red combs and wattles. I am pretty sure it is just one hen doing this.
She has layed in the nest before but the last couple of weeks all are from the roost or laying on the floor.
The Question-
So is this just a young hen issue that she will grow out of or could health be involved?
Any suggestions would be great, I realize I will probably need to do some detective work and figure out which of my girls is the egg dropper.

 

[doulakristyn]

I can't answer your question, but I do have one young one who's just started laying. She's only 4 eggs into her laying life with two having been layed in the yard and two in a nesting box.
I'm a first time chicken owner this year, so have no previous experience with it and the other two girls haven't started yet.

 

[marianne7]

Our hens sometimes lay eggs outside the nest....they are all aroung four years old...I belive it's because they cannot get on the nest because others are there.....(thats the reason for us) not sure if this helps, but we have this happen to us too.!!!

 

[Woodchick]

My DH made each girl her own nesting box even though suggestions said we only needed 2 or 3 so there is definitely enough space for her to lay in. However as everyone said all the girls use only 2 maybe 3 nests. I put golf balls in all the nests to try to get them to spread out but to no avail. They have chosen the bottom nests to lay which are only 6 inches off the floor instead of the ones on top which are a good 2 feet off the floor. If she way laying mostly on the floor I would suspect that she didn't know the difference between the box and the floor but mostly they seem to be dropping from the roost. I have also wondered if maybe she is stuck on the roost behind another and get down soon enough to lay. They kind of have to get down one by one. I may have to work on that today. Some sort of an escape ramp for those stuck in the middle.
Anyway I'm sure it is only one of the many mysteries I will have to solve being a chicken ma

 

[nancysmith2]

Doesn't matter how many nests there are the problem is which are the covetted boxes. Try putting a golf ball in each box or plastic easter eggs. They usually want to lay in a box with an egg already there, especially if they are new to laying. She may want an occupied nest and is to young to control the urge. I have some that circle the nest until someone vacates. Some chickens will get in a box together some will not allow another chicken in the box. I have one nest no one wants to lay in. IF I put a fake egg in that box they will lay in it, but that is the only time it gets an egg.