Maybe I can get some help!!! I bought 4 buff orp hens about 5 wks ago. About 2 wks ago,I moved them from their quarantine pen in with my orp roo. I couldn't keep them in that last week. I bought them as laying hens,but figured with the 2 moves,it'd take time to resume laying. Someone gave me 3 eggs this week. First 2 were inside the coop, but under the roost area. It's a 3 1/2x 5 coop. I had 6 before in this coop comfortably,and when it was just 2 boys and 2 girls,the girls laid in the nest box. Today i found the 3rd egg in the run. In the corner i have a perch slanted and was under it. I know its not laying on the perch,i think its my pink banded one as she's always just standing under the perches. I have 2 fake eggs in the nest box,they're always moved but why don't she lay in the box?
Can you describe your nest box (is it just the one?), it's location/oreintation within the coop, what it is bedded with, whether it is curtained or open, etc? Photos would be even better. Have you seen any of them in or around the nest box since introducing them into the coop? Where does the bird you suspect seem to rank in the pecking order?
Mine was doing that too in the beginning when they started to laying eggs. They were simply sitting on the floor and laying eggs wherever they felt like. With time they figured it out that the nesting basket is much better than the floor. lol. But even now they are using one basket to sit in, and when one is making an egg and the other one want to lay her egg at the same time she won't use the other basket oh noooo..... It's not good enough .... She will simply sit in front of the basket that she loves the most and will lay an egg on the floor , because her favorite basket was occupied at the time....
My 8 chickens were doing the same thing as Ardj's hens. About 2 weeks ago, my hens started laying. I would find eggs in 3 different locations inside the coop, but never in any of the 5 laying boxes. After a week and a half, they suddenly started using 2 of the five boxes and now right at 2 weeks they are all using one box. Unless there is an issue with your laying boxes or external stress factors, I would just be patient and let nature eventually show them the way. BTW, I also keep fake eggs in 3 of the 5 boxes. The one they always use I now keep 2 fake eggs. Good luck! L8r, Don
