Some of my hens have stopped laying in nesting boxes

[ffpickle]

I am a newbie. Help please. After laying in the nesting boxes for the last couple months all of a sudden some of my hens have started laying on the floor. I have no idea why. What can I do to get them laying back in the boxes??

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

It might be too hot in the nests if they are enclosed.
May be pests in the nests, have you cleaned them out and taken a good look?
Do you use fake eggs and.or golf balls in the nests? This can help beyond the first onset of lay.
Any new birds added to flock.....or other changes made lately?
How many birds and how many nests?
How long has this been going on?

 

[ffpickle]

The only changes I have made lately is to clean the nesting boxes. I have 9 hens and 3 nesting boxes. I do not use fake eggs or golf balls mainly cause I have never had a problem. This has been going on for about 2 weeks and I have my hens for about 5 months now. BUT it has been hot and humid here. And thank you for your help.

 

[TuckerinNC]

We have had 2 black racer snakes this summer .. After the day we caught the first one , my hens quit laying in the nestboxes and went to laying out in the pen ... I had went into the henhouse to feed them and noticed that the straw in one nestbox was all messed up , when I started straightening the straw I realized I was seeing a snake !! I managed to get it out of the nest and kill it , it had eaten 1 golfball , measured it was 6 ft long ! The next week I found a 2+ month old chick dead one morning all stretched out on the ground under the roosting poles ... The next day I found another black snake in a nestbox that had ate 2 golfballs , it was only a little over 4 ft long ,, was too little to eat the chick it had killed

.... If you reclean your nestboxes , spray an insecticide all around inside and into the cracks before useing clean straw in case its chicken mites ... It is good to use golfballs for dummy eggs because if a snake is stealing eggs and it eats a golfball and gets away it will die ... I use 2 to each nest , that way if one goes missing I know a snake is visiting and I will start going out and checking every time I hear them creating a rucus during the day ... Hope you figure out what is making them scared of the nests ..

 

[aart]

The only changes I have made lately is to clean the nesting boxes. I have 9 hens and 3 nesting boxes. I do not use fake eggs or golf balls mainly cause I have never had a problem. This has been going on for about 2 weeks and I have my hens for about 5 months now. BUT it has been hot and humid here. And thank you for your help.

Sometimes cleaning out the nests can throw them for a day or two, just because it looks little different even if you use the dsame type bedding.
Try some fake eggs in a couple of the nests, it can help...leave one empty of fake eggs and see which they choose to use..