Temporary nest box on the floor?

[Chad Oftedal]

So, one of my PBR pullets has turned into a trooper. She started laying about 2 1/2 weeks ago. She took one day off and had one soft shell egg within the first 3 days she started laying. Since then, she's been like clockwork and been laying a PeeWee sized egg each day - I think she's up to about 12 in a row. I have a community nest box built into the wall of my coop, about 20" off the ground, but she's decided she prefers a spot on the floor in the corner.

About a week ago, I put some straw in the community nest box to make it a bit more inviting. A few days later, I added a few fake eggs just to see if she'd give the nest box a whirl. So far, nothing doing.

OK, this morning, there was a soft shell egg on the poop board, and I still got my egg from 'ol reliable, so I now have one of my seven remaining freeloaders getting ready to join the dark side. What I am wondering is if I should put a temporary nest box on the floor in the corner where I've been getting my one egg a day? My thought is that it'd be best to at least get them going on the idea of using a nest box, and when the egg laying becomes critical mass (the rest of them decide to join in) then work on moving from the nest box on the floor up to the elevated nest box. I'm not able to be at home when she's laying, so catching her right now and placing her in the nest box doesn't seem like a possibility. As more start to lay, I'd like to protect the eggs better than just on the floor. I know I'm just making the assumption that the next one that starts to lay will join the one on the floor, but it seems like a viable possibility.

Any suggestions?

 

[New2Chicks97]

I look forward to reading the responses from the experts.

Some of my girls lay in the boxes just fine and others are very random about where they lay theirs. One particular bird seems to just pop the egg out wherever she happens to be....middle of the coop floor, outside in the grass, or behind a bush. And I have another that delights in playing find my egg. She holds that sucker in until I let them out to Free range and runs to find an obscure hidden spot. She is seriously funny because if I happen to be home & follow her around and shoo her back towards the coop she will eventually give up and lay in the box.

 

[snow5164]

I’ve had that happen. I moved the water to that spot to eliminate that option, she then used the nesting box . Try rearranging , I’d try a nest box mounted on the wall off the floor , just to give options .

Hard to figure them out , do you have enough boxes ? Some don’t want to share

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Everything being equal hens prefer to lay on the cold bare Earth manialy I suppose because eggs hatch best when they are incubated on the damp ground. People only build elevated hen nest because we humans are much too lazy to stoop down to far to gather eggs.

 

[Pork Pie]

I always used mobile nest boxes - plastic basins, using soil as ballast. I would move the nest boxes wherever I would find more than a few days-worth of eggs (providing it was an accessible location).

 

[aart]

I would encourage them to use the nest, rather than accommodating them to lay near the floor.

Is the nest easily accessible?
(don't see a pic of it in your media pages).

Have they ever checked out the nest?
Tho you can't be there to put them in the nest when they appear to be ready to drop that egg, putting them in the nest at any time might help encourage them to check it out.

Fake eggs in the nest and blocking where they are laying on the floor might do the trick.
Tho it can take up to a month for them to smooth things out.
Meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

Here's a picture of the nest box - good call @aart, I should have added the photo to start. From this angle you can't see the fake eggs in there. One of my RIR just squatted for me now when I went to check on things. My PBR had her egg in the usual spot, so she's done for the day. To give perspective where the one egg is being laid currently, it's in the corner of the coop which in this picture would be the lower left edge here. She's probably only 18 inches or so from hopping up on to the edge of the nest box, so she's near it, just not using it. To help keep this all in perspective, this isn't a huge deal keeping me up at nights, I just wanted to expand my knowledge if there was anything I could be doing to help encourage more. I'll work on catching one and gently placing them in the box to check it out. I'm happy that a RIR squatted for me, that's the first I've gotten to see and experience that.

 

[aart]

I would have picked that squatter up and put her in the nest.
Cause she's asking you ...ok so how do we do this and expects you to show her!

 

[Chad Oftedal]

I'll have to try that next time. Today was more of a squat and dart. They don't let me pick them up, so she didn't stay in place for easy pickup. Maybe she's playing hard to get.

 

[Chad Oftedal]

Well, mystery solved. We're now a 2 egg family.

I checked on things about 2pm this afternoon, and one of my barred rocks was sitting in a corner on the poop board but under the roost bar. There is plenty of space there since I wanted a spacious poop board, and room to scoop under it when cleaning. Well, that also translates into enough room for a hen to sit down and lay. And, so, lay she did on the poop board. I kind of figured that is what she was going to be up to since she had separated herself from everyone else who was outside, and the fact that we had a soft shelled egg yesterday. Granted, I can't be positive that she was the soft shell because my first one laying didn't do a soft shell the first time, but I'd have to go with odds being that it probably was the second laying hen.

Anyway, even though I thought that is what she was up to, I opted not to move her to the nest box on one of her very first attempts at laying. I'm sure I'm just being way too cautious, but I don't want to add stress to her first few eggs on what I am sure must be a unique feeling to go through with her body. Given that they don't fully cuddle or let me hold them as a matter of practice, I think it'd be slightly stressful to be handled when first laying. If she settles into a pattern here over the next number of days, I'm sure I'll move her given the opportunity again.