Why all of a sudden are my hens laying outside on the roost?

[tfb4me]

We have 5 laying hens here. they have been great all summer..Now all of a sudden im finding 1 to 2 eggs a day broken outside under their roosts? They have been going inside to lay in the nesting boxes all summer. now this? Is there a reason as to why? Also what do you all do with mud outside in your runs? We added coca mulch in the summer months wich by the way worked awesome! Now the rainy, cool season is upon us and were ancle deep in mud and chicken poo. Im going to rake it all out this afternoon. The problem is with all this wet weather the mulch has started to compost making for a rather nasty mess. If we could ony get 2 or 3 sunny warn days around here we would be golden again! Anyway thats all for today..I hope everyone is doing good and take care
Thanks ever so much!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Could you have an infestation of some type, like a snake that moved in or mice/rats? something that is making them avoid the nest boxes...
Did you change the set-up at all, new nesting material or something.
Is the lower position of the sun shining in through a window and now shining directly in the nest boxes?

 

[tfb4me]

Quote:
I thought the same thing, about the infestation.The only noticable sign i can see is a large spiders web in there. were still getting 3 to 4 eggs a day in the nest boxes. We let them somwhat free range meaning they dont have to go inside nightly. They all sleep outside on the roost. They do have a roos inside but they choose not to use it. I dont think the sun is causing any problems as the only window is on the side of the coop. There however is a skylight on the roof.. But it has always been there. I cant see any signs of any other visitors.. no mice or rat droppings.. no digging around the outside of their run. So other then living out there with them fir a few days I cant tell whats going on. I do however have one hen that insits on laying after everyone else has. She, I think is the one laying outside.