Roosting bar “tower”

[Mother of Chaos]

…I snapped a photo of my wooden eggs the next to a real one..hard to tell the difference even for me! I had to put a Sharpie spot on one end of mine so I wouldn’t gather and try to scramble one! lol!
Best of luck with your ladies!
(Wooden egg is the left one)

My husband proudly brought in eggs last week (I’m healing from a total knee replacement, so he has been pressed into service.) We have three pullets laying daily until the last few hot days. We get a green-blue from the Easter Egger, a matte pinkish-brown from the Buff Orp, and a shiny golden-tan from the Barred Rock.

ANYWAY, the eggs he brought in were one blue-green and two matte pinkish-brown; hmm. Sure enough, one of the browns was one of our fake eggs.

They now have big Sharpie X’s on the round ends.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

…Also will she stop pecking the eggs? I hear this is a hard habit to break

This is the advantage of using HARD fake eggs (or golf balls.) I set up the nests when they were about 16(?) weeks old, not yet laying, with two ceramic eggs in each.

Sure enough, the ever-nosey and hungry Barred Rock had broken the tip of her upper beak 4-5 days later. Mm-hmm.

No pecking (so far) of the real eggs now that all are laying.

- Also, if you’re home during the day, check nest boxes frequently at first, as in hourly, and collect new eggs to minimize exposure to pecking.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They are at 36inches high right now. We made them this high to deter them from sleeping in them. I do see that she is super curious about going inside the coop though I think she likes the privacy. Do you think I should just lower the nest boxes inside the coop or just bring them out to the yard ?

I think you're confusing things. You want the nest boxes LOWER than the roosts because chickens want to sleep at the highest point. If your nest boxes are 36" up your roosts should all be above that, which makes it much harder to give them enough landing space without crashing.

My nest boxes are 3" off the floor. Not a great idea with my bad back but makes it easy for the birds to walk in and out of them.

 

[McChooky]

EDIT:
I suggest attaching a poop board and 2 x 3 or 2 x 4 flat side up overtop of the nest boxes to roost on

 

[Hen-Ry]

Thank you! I forgot to mention I do have plastic Easter eggs in them I just don’t see any signs of her going inside of them at all. They are at 36inches high right now. We made them this high to deter them from sleeping in them. I do see that she is super curious about going inside the coop though I think she likes the privacy. Do you think I should just lower the nest boxes inside the coop or just bring them out to the yard ?

Also will she stop pecking the eggs? I hear this is a hard habit to break

If I were going to make do with those beautiful wooden boxes inside the coop, I would definitely lower them from that 36” height to maybe 16-18”. I like to make it real easy for the hens to lay my breakfast! The roost being higher at about 36” should discourage them from sleeping in the boxes. Chickens will lay an egg right on the ground, but it’s rare to see one sleeping all night on dirt. I’ve had one get left outside at night and she found a limb. Another one was found on top of the coop like Snoopy! They only get caught outside once, next evening they’re the first one on the roost!
There’s some excellent articles here on BYC about breaking hens from pecking eggs. Chickens love to peck..anything! Fingers, toes, dirt, other chickens..mine will peck at feed on the ground rather than stand flat footed to eat the very same crumbles out of a clean feeder! Wooden or ceramic eggs usually work..but then no two chickens are alike.