turning 6 months in winter...how will I know when egg laying starts?

[PouleChick]

Should I give them less room to roam until they are regularly laying in the next?

No - I'd leave them to do thier thing - they'll work it out.

 

[aart]

If they start trying to sleep in the nest box after install, the first thing I'd do is block access to the nest box at night and then uncover them in the morning.

Photos of your coop, inside and outside, especially showing roost placement, can help troubleshoot why 1 or 2 of the birds isn't roosting consistently.

Ditto Dat^^^

 

[wamtazlady]

It may still be winter but the days are getting longer. I've gone from 1 or 2 eggs a week to suddenly 10 this week. You need to get things figured out and get that nest box installed. I agree with what rosemarythyme wrote.

 

[Zwillingsmama]

My girls are 34/35 weeks old. The first started laying about 3 weeks ago, with 3 more following the last 2 weeks. One still hasn’t layed an egg. I would put in their nest boxes now. I don’t think they will be starting sleeping in their nest box if you put one in now. If they are squatting they will start laying soon. I noticed that they visited my nest boxes about 2 weeks prior to start laying and tested it and moved the training eggs Around. Good luck

 

[Spartan22]

I hatched some eggs in June & July thinking they won’t be laying until the following spring. I’d been getting new eggs from new layers since the last week of December. Today 15 of those eggs were from those hatched. I would put some nest in a hurry, so they’ll get used to using them instead of the run or the coop floor.

 

[Rushdoggie]

Well, I put the nest box in and I could tell it had been visited. Two days later I found this next to the nest box. Hey at least it was in the coop! Either my Buff or my Austrolorpe.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Well, I put the nest box in and I could tell it had been visited. Two days later I found this next to the nest box. Hey at least it was in the coop! Either my Buff or my Austrolorpe.

Congrats! Well, they don't always get it right the first time (or the second, or the third). But if they're visiting the nest boxes that's a good thing, means they're at least giving them consideration. I've had to plop my first 2 layers this year into the boxes for them to realize they were even there.