my neighbor has 15 hen chickens that i take care of on a regular basis, they recently started layind a few eggs, but they are laying them on the ground in their chicken coop and not in the boxes that were made for them to lay, is their anything that we can do to coax the chickens to lay in their boxes?
Answers:
oh for petes sake.. First of all you have to make sure your egg boxes are cozy. Are they big enough? Are they well ventalated? Is there straw in the boxes? If this is their first year you can train them by taking one egg to each nest and leaving it there. (mark it with a crayon so you dont pick up the bad egg on accident) Once they realize the egss are always in the box and start to lay in the box you can take the bad eggs out and dispose of them. You could also move the boxes to where they are now laying and gradually move the boxes to where you want them.
no but i want one
Chickens have their own agenda and they will do what they want to do, which is probably not what you want them to do.
They like to sit in straw sometimes, you might try that. But sometimes they like to sit in a hole they scratch into the dirt. There is no figuring a chicken.
I have 2 as pets. When mine are going to lay an egg, they like to sit head first into a corner. So if you have any corners, they seem to like that.
make it eat dirt
Believe it or not, they make glass eggs so you can put one per nest to encourage the hens to lay in them. If you can't find the heavy glass ones, go to a ceramic shop and get a ceramic one.
Do be sure there is plenty of hay or straw in the nests.
Good luck with your chickens
The one answerer was correct you have to make the nest boxes cozy. Line with straw, leaves or sawdust. If they are laying eggs on the ground pick them up and put them in the box. Once the chickens start laying in the boxes you need to collect them every day or two to keep them laying. Otherwise they will go broody and just sit on the eggs. You can also use golf balls as substitute eggs to coax the hens.
No chickens are lazy creatures and if they don't want to hop up in the box they won't ours(33) often lay on the floor under the nest box under the roost and under the feeder at times.
Yes, there is a very easy way. Get some fake chicken eggs, wooden, plastic, or glass. Plastic easter eggs will also work, or rocks that are shaped like eggs (You can also use real eggs for a few days, as long as you mark them so you dont eat them and dont let them rot in the nest). Put the eggs in the nest to lure the chickens in. Once one chicken starts laying in the nest boxes, they will all follow her example.
Well, what you can try is to put some golf balls in the boxes. That way they might think that those are eggs and might figure out that's where they're supposed to lay. But if they decide that they don't want to, there is no way to change a hen's mind!
Best of luck to you!
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