Utah!

[darkroo]

Miss Fiddle

Have your birds ever been confined in close proximity to the coop for an extended period of time so as to make the coop and nesting boxes familiar. I didn't have any problem with mine till I introduced some other possibility then I had to look around to find where they were going until I got rid of the other options.

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

Only when I first got them. I think they would go stir crazy and peck each other to death if I were to lock them in that shed now after a full year of freedom.

That said, I could trim the hedges where they lay to try and dissuade them. I also thought about privacy curtains for their nesting boxes to make it feel more like the hedges.

 

[ElkMtnCove]

Quote:
Can you try locking them in the coop for the day? This is my second coop and the nesting boxes are smaller and more enclosed. Our very first egg was on the ground outside, the rest have been in the nest boxes. They are also the type that come out of the coop versus right inside (hope that made sense). I'm going to try to attach a pic one of these days.

My other coop was a large one I could walk in, the nest boxes were just four 14" square boxes. I found about 25% of their eggs on the coop floor and sometimes in their yard.

Now hopefully I didn't jinx myself.

Oh one other diffference besides this coop being smaller (think cozy), is we haven't had time yet to put in a seond window and a light so it is darker (so I'm amazed they love it in there). Other coop had sidelight windows and real windows for ventilation (so bright inside), plus the light that ran 24/7 in the winter.

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

This is actually a very dark rickety old shed, and under a gigantic apricot tree. So it is a very private coop. I think I am going to try privacy curtains on a couple of nesting boxes, because they are very exposed compared to their usual haunts for egg laying.

 

[darkroo]

It's my understanding smaller, darker is better for nesting boxes, also curtains are a must have (hee)

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

They seriously like curtains? I had a few people tell me I was ridiculous for suggesting it, but I thought it would more closely simulate the bushes.

 

[PacsMan]

Quote:
Got the perfect solution, but they ain't gunna like it!! (you won't either)

Leave them in the coop for a day. (make sure they have plenty of ventilation, water, etc. though...) It works. Ask me how I know! I had 3 days in a row that 2 hens were laying outside. I 'forgot' to let them out one day, except for 1 hour before dark, and they haven't laid outside since!

Quote:
Ok, I had 6 Americana eggs all lined up last night from Christie. All Fresh, fertile, and local. To get set up, I put a couple of regular eggs and a golf ball in the brooder pen, along with food, water, and Midnight by broody hen. But all she did was walk around all night and perched on top of the 1/4" plywood divider all night. I'll give her one more shot tonight, then it's back out with the rest of 'em!

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

That's what Blacktail did, but a day later she was broody again. So by the time Abi got me the eggs it was pretty clear that her hopping off the nest and walking around was just a break and she really was broody.

And I think I probably will "forget" to let them out for a couple of days once it cools off. They need to hang in the shade by the brook when it is this hot.

 

[PacsMan]

Quote:
I spent a whopping 78¢ on a 1x2' piece of cloth last month. Put it on 2 of my 4 nest boxes, and they seem to lay in those 2 more often now.
Who'da thunk it?

 

[Stands With A Fiddle]

Yeah, I saw some of those Walmart scraps of felt and fleece for 75 cents, and that is what I wanted to get. It would be perfect for nest box curtains, and the price is right. I was also going to try it on two out of their four. Maybe I should try it on all four since they don't get used at all.

What style of curtains did you make? I was thinking something like vertical blinds so they could walk through the strips.