Will they know?????

[Thechefchicks]

I have awhile till my girls start laying they are currently 12 weeks as the oldest and 9 weeks are my brown leghorns and Aracanas, so my question is will they know to nest and lay in the nesting boxes we built for them or will they have no clue what they are there for. I have heard scary stories on how to tell when they are ready to lay from a guy who use to work at a commercial chicken farm but I have NO desire to ever do what he said to do. Tips, thoughts, comments????

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I just put golf balls in the nest box when it got close to time and they figured it out first time. I have one that still occasionally lays elsewhere, but for the most part they will look for the cozy little space that looks safe.

 

[Judy]

Lots of times the first eggs are laid on the coop floor or in the run. Lots of strange things happen in the first month or so of laying, and then they usually settle down. They will be more likely to lay in the nest if there are fake eggs in them -- people use golf balls, ceramic eggs, plastic Easter eggs, whatever. Mine still sometimes make a nest in a corner of the coop and lay there for a while. I don't fight it, I just put a little fresh hay there and check on the spot.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Oh, and I don't know what that guy said, but your pullet's combs and faces with start to get red before they are ready to lay. They may also "squat" when you walk up to them...acting as if you are a rooster.

 

[NYRIR]

Golf balls worked great for me....then after a week or so of them laying, they kicked the golf balls out of the nests

 

[Michie]

Yay Chicks! :

Oh, and I don't know what that guy said, but your pullet's combs and faces with start to get red before they are ready to lay. They may also "squat" when you walk up to them...acting as if you are a rooster.

LOL!!! The 1st time I saw my girls start to squat when I walked up, I thought someone had been hurting them and they were terrified, hahaha!!! I learned quickly I was wrong lol I have only had 1 hen lay outside the nesting boxes ever. They just "know" and I did keep ceramic eggs there from 18weeks on. Actually I still have the ceramics in there because I dont know if I need to take them out!! Oh here is the best part, mine NEVER poop in the nesting boxes, how cool is that!!!​

 

[Thechefchicks]

Thanks those are all great ideas. They are crazy girls so I will start i guess with the golf balls since they are easily accessible.

 

[zeus]

Hi...we ended up buying the fake ceramic eggs(which look very real!! we had to mark them with a pen-so we didnt take the wrong one in the house!haha!)...when ours started laying-we had an area set up high,like the height of a table away from their roost area...one day-we saw an egg just laying on the table area...we didnt have the nest boxes there yet-so i guess they know!! apparently mine like laying in high/priivate areas!once one did that-they all started doing that-luckily we had the nest boxes upfor the next girls.. good luck!