Strange Nesting Boxes

[shessowitte]

I have an old rusted Radio Flyer wagon missing the back wheels, leaned up against the fence. The Polish love to lay there so we check daily.

 

[Conan]

I have a single chicken that lays in the nesting box. ONE. I have to hunt for the rest. One laid in a box of lavender on the deck, my bantams fight over the kitty condo on the deck, my Welsummer lays in the woods, and my EE and Brahma girls lay on the ground in the hay and straw piles between various buckets and such. Like other folks have said, just watch em so you know where to look!

 

[Kat2141]

Mine found an old horse feed bucket that they took over.. I finally put it in their stall for them. LOL

Chickens will get ya. I have 5 that "refuse to chicken." I don't know what went wrong raising them, but the things won't roost, period. And one of them STILL lays her egg on the floor of the coop or the ground out in the run. Drives me mad.

mine used the nest boxes every day, then in the fall they started laying theirs on the floor until I figured out that it was still dark when they wanted to lay. Maybe hard to see to jump up to the box. I put a strand of LED Christmas lights in on a timer for 5am and they went back to using the nest boxes. Whatever it takes, right?

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have a single chicken that lays in the nesting box. ONE. I have to hunt for the rest. One laid in a box of lavender on the deck, my bantams fight over the kitty condo on the deck, my Welsummer lays in the woods, and my EE and Brahma girls lay on the ground in the hay and straw piles between various buckets and such. Like other folks have said, just watch em so you know where to look!

It's an Easter egg hunt for you every day!

 

[Frazzemrat1]

my araucana (or her half araucana sister, not sure) first decided to lay in the aluminum can we keep the feed in. That is, if my son forgot to put the lid on properly. If he did, once she discovered that spot, she started laying next to it.

Now, they either lay with the rest in the covered cat litter boxes I use as nest boxes or the one I have hanging above them.... Again, haven't caught her in the act, so I'm not sure which it is. Their eggs are very similar. Yes, that's my hamburg in the hanging one. She prefers the high places where the brahmas can't kick her out. I think the same is happening with the aracana sisters because they're bantam sized too.

 

[Mosey2003]

They are not silkies by any chance, because mine will not "chicken" either. They wont roost, they wont sleep where I want them too they have 28 feet of coop instead they sleep in pile right in front of the door so I am tripping over them in the dark when I go out to feed them before work, they like to send me on an egg hunt everyday as they will lay everywhere except the nest boxes.

Nope. And it's not dark when they want to lay, either, like another poster said. They have lights on from 5am - 8pm, she lays in the middle of the day.

 

[TheOgdensmenagerie]

Mine use the old grain barrels out by my horses. Lmao

 

[jolenesdad]

I have two that run around the entire coop frantically, in and out of each nesting box, and continually end up just dropping them somewhere along their run around. Different place every day, but 98% of the time in the open on the floor. My faaaaaaavorite is under the roosts at the end of the day to find in the morning.

I’ve got another I should rename Goldilocks. She won’t stay in one place more than 3 or 4 days. It’s usually in a box though, good girl.

I’ve got a couple others that just like to mess with me. I have multiple portable nest boxes I was placing around as the young pullets were laying everywhere. All I want to do is remove them but EVERY day there is a DIFFERENT egg in one of the (never the same) portable boxes.

 

[Peppercorngal]

My chickens wholeheartedly believe that they belong in the house and would obviously prefer to lay here:
View attachment 1709595

Cute, but I would find it irritating, another mess to clean! This is why all my chickens are OUTSIDE!!! My husband is messy enough, I need no other personalities to clean up after!!

 

[Peppercorngal]

Mine found an old horse feed bucket that they took over.. I finally put it in their stall for them. LOL

mine used the nest boxes every day, then in the fall they started laying theirs on the floor until I figured out that it was still dark when they wanted to lay. Maybe hard to see to jump up to the box. I put a strand of LED Christmas lights in on a timer for 5am and they went back to using the nest boxes. Whatever it takes, right?

My chickens laid on the floor too! Dumb me finally realized that their light was burned out! The early layers couldn't see the boxes in the dark. Poor girls! Now, like you, they only lay in their boxes. My chickens are smarter than I am.