Tell me what’s wrong with our nesting boxes

[Melrow1015]

This is our nesting box arrangement. It’s a roll out with outside access with turf bedding. I believe the incline is less than 3 inches and theyre about 12 inches wide except for the one on the far right, 12 inches tall, and 12 inches deep. We’ve only gotten 4 eggs at most in a day out of our 7 “laying” hens and an average of 1-3 a day in the month we’ve had them, sometimes none. They’re supposedly 1.5 years old. One lays off the roost, one lays in the corner behind the door, and one lays in the nesting box on the far right. A few days ago one decided to lay behind my husband’s truck tire leaned up against our shed after I set one on the ground to clean out the coop . What are we doing wrong? We hung up a curtain in front of the window of the door to the coop to make it darker and more private and it didn’t help. My husband is thinking about removing the top board of the nesting boxes. When he was building it he read that chickens like to be in a snug spot to lay and I thought we had achieved that. They free range now and we haven’t seen any other eggs laid outside the coop other than the one the other day. We also put the eggs they lay outside the boxes in the boxes to show them where to lay and that’s also what the golf ball is for. Any suggestions?

 

[FarmerGirl101]

I'd add a lip to the box and make the entrance slightly smaller. You can add curtains to the nesting boxes as a way to also visually reduce the entrance size. The one on the far right is also a little big. You may want to lock them up for a few days to ensure they are all laying and all lay in the coop.

 

[WingItRanch]

Don't remove the top board. I'd consider adding curtains to the actual nest boxes.

Mainly I think the issue is the turf. It doesn't look very comfy. Chickens like to nest. Also, I don't see any fake eggs in there. That will encourage them to lay where you want.

Now, all thay said, I know these are rollaway nest boxes so you need a smooth surface for the egg to roll and pretty hard to keep a fake egg there as encourement.

I believe @GodLovesU had this same issue and she has some inventive ideas. I bet she'll be willing to share how she got her hens to start using the rollaway boxes.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Mainly I think the issue is the turf. It doesn't look very comfy. Chickens like to nest.

Turf squares are great for nesting box material and I use it with great success. But I do agree these ones don't look comfy. I would look for turf with longer "grass" strands. Mine are longer and it works well. I also put a rubber mat (like a stall mat that is cut down) under the turf to help provide some more cushion.

 

[GodLovesU]

Don't remove the top board. I'd consider adding curtains to the actual nest boxes.

Mainly I think the issue is the turf. It doesn't look very comfy. Chickens like to nest. Also, I don't see any fake eggs in there. That will encourage them to lay where you want.

Now, all thay said, I know these are rollaway nest boxes so you need a smooth surface for the egg to roll and pretty hard to keep a fake egg there as encourement.

I believe @GodLovesU had this same issue and she has some inventive ideas. I bet she'll be willing to share how she got her hens to start using the rollaway boxes.

Mine are still not using them too well, my special chickens tend to hang around them. I do have a thread with some advice here. I also used putty to keep the fake eggs in place in the rollaways.

 

[HolyHenHouse]

I have my nesting boxes about 2 feet from the ground and have had no issues...I have heard that they feel more safe laying when they are higher up.

 

[FunClucks]

They need privacy. Curtains, or something to provide a visual barrier so the other hens can't just look at the hen laying eggs. For mine, they lay in 5 gallon buckets in the covered run with a plastic lawn chair turned upside down on top of them to block the view of the entrance of the bucket. They enter from the sides of the bucket/lawnchair. Also the direction the bucket is pointed matters. They like to hide away and then lay their eggs, so the buckets pointed towards the middle of the run get the least use. The ones where they can sneak around the corner and enter the bucket while "hiding" get the most use. The buckets with lots of comfy pine shavings also get the most use compared to buckets they've pulled all the shavings out of. They like the 1" long turf squares, but those are a pain to keep clean.

 

[FarmerGirl101]

I have my nesting boxes about 2 feet from the ground and have had no issues...I have heard that they feel more safe laying when they are higher up.

Mine are up top but I've heard the opposite. Nonetheless, I think elevating them would be a good thing to try so they don't feel as threated in case something happens.