My chickens are 4 months old now and they go to their coop at night where I lock them up. In the morning, I let them out and let them free range all day until they put themselves back in the coop. They roam over a couple of acres during the day but spend most of their time in a grove of trees. When they start laying, will the go back to the coop or lay somewhere on the ground? Don't want to miss out on my first eggs.
you will start seeing signs they are getting close- they will wander around saying 'brrrrr' then practice a nest box, the best thing to do is put a nextbox(we use a storage bin) and put a boiled egg in it- they seem to instinctively know to lay there if they see an egg....
If you have a run for them I would suggest keeping them in the run and not letting them free range when they first start laying. That way they will use the nest boxes when they first start. I have been doing this with mine and so far both of my girls that have started laying have used the nest box. I let them out to free range after they lay usually but I did have one of the girls out free ranging and she went back into the coop to lay when it was time.
We bush whacked for weeks thinking they started a clutch of eggs somewhere. I'd built a double decker nesting box for em in the run (run door is always open during days) and placed a plastic egg in it. They kept rolling it out. All said and done and after I took the egg out and continuous futile egg hunts the first egg apeared in one of the boxes all by itself It's exhillerating. A cute observation on nesting is the back to my boxes will fall down in extreme wind gusts. Ran out of the scrap plywood and am saving the 4x4 peice I lean against the run where the nest are for a backing. Yeah, yeah, the finished coop with nesting boxes is not done yet One of the hens was running about the yard inspecting every nook and cranny one day. I could'nt figure out what was up with her and why all the racket. Finnally I went to the coop to check the feed/water situation and noticed the leaning plywood backing was knocked over. Within 2 minutes of replacing it she was in the nest. I guess what I'm saying is the dimensions and security of location of nesting boxes are ideal for chickens to naturally use them. If it has a back to it of course.
