Why doesn't she lay in the box?

[Marty chicken girl]

I have four hens nine months old, four different breeds. I put the the golf balls in the nesting box, and now three of the four lay consistently in the box. But the other one - a Welsummer - lays wherever she wants. I find her eggs in the run and in the coop, but almost never in the box. I replaced the golf balls with more realistic-looking wooden eggs, but that didn't help.
She has always been the most skittish of my girls, and she was the last to start laying. Is she just rebellious? Will she settle down and follow the norm? Is there anything I can do to encourage her?

 

[Waz]

I had the same issue with my welsummers....they started laying late and when they did start they would lay anywhere.....try making the eggbox warmer and a nice place to lay...

 

[Spartan22]

How many nesting boxes do you have? How big the coop and the run. She could be on the bottom of the pecking order, reason she’s laying every where and the last one at that, she get kicked out by others.

 

[BullChick]

She hates you.
Joking. Some hens want their own box, and some want to lay on top of each other. I’ve seen three hens in the same box, laying their eggs. Meanwhile, the other two boxes were empty.
Be sure you have enough boxes, and consider a box on the floor.

 

[MROO]

I have four hens nine months old, four different breeds. I put the the golf balls in the nesting box, and now three of the four lay consistently in the box. But the other one - a Welsummer - lays wherever she wants. I find her eggs in the run and in the coop, but almost never in the box. I replaced the golf balls with more realistic-looking wooden eggs, but that didn't help.
She has always been the most skittish of my girls, and she was the last to start laying. Is she just rebellious? Will she settle down and follow the norm? Is there anything I can do to encourage her?

There's a rebel in every bunch! She may need another box. For whatever reason, be it pecking order or just plain not liking the "decor," another box should help fix the issue.

 

[Spartan22]

Another reason, she could be a free thinker. I have one of those, a black sexlink, always laying eggs on the floor on the corner of the coop, half of the time I step on the eggs since she bury them under the beddings and They have 14 nesting boxes, go figure.

 

[rebrascora]

Some pullets take longer to figure out the whole egg laying thing than others and get caught short in odd places because they don't realise an egg is coming. I have a couple at the moment that haven't got it figured out yet or sometimes they are bullied from the nest boxes or frightened of being cornered in a nest box by bullies. Usually they get it figured out and/or find a consistent place of their own to lay or you can try providing an alternative for her. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate. Put it in a dark corner of the coop out of the way of the other nest boxes and see if she will go for that, but usually it is just a question of giving them time to sort themselves out.

 

[Suzi18]

I have 6 nest boxes for 13 chickens and yet my Frost White lays her eggs all over. In the run, on the coop floor, on top of a bale of straw, under a perch and once in a while in a nest box. I'm convinced she does this because she is sooooo nosy and afraid she will miss something.
I'm just glad she is laying

 

[Marty chicken girl]

Thanks, all. I will try a second nesting box just for her. It could be true that she does hate me, but I will keep trying to win her over!

 

[aquabum]

I have 4 boxes and 5 hens laying right now. They all want to lay in one box!!! It's hilarious to go out about egg laying time and watch them go up in the coop and find the "special" box occupied and they do the "I got to lay an egg" song and dance. They cackle and get real noisy trying to get the other to hurry up! I find an egg on the coop floor from time to time because they couldn't hold it for the "special" box. Three empty boxes for the last 8-10 months or so!