Hens not laying in the nest

flashfowl · **Joined:** Sun Oct 17, 2010 2:57 pm **Posts:** 6

How do I convince 3 of my 9 hens to lay their eggs in the nest box. I have 3 hens that refuse to lay there and I find their eggs just outside the nest boxes and I have actually caught them in the act and I have tried leaving the eggs in the box from the other girls but that didn't work. Any tricks?

finny · **Joined:** Mon Mar 08, 2010 8:03 pm **Posts:** 5

I would put any eggs she lays in the nest box closest to where she laid them and leave them there as long as you can. If she sees lots of eggs in there she might go in?

oozcorpse · **Joined:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:15 am **Posts:** 2715

Use a fake egg that way you can just leave it in the nest for as long as you need to - just make sure if it looks very much like the real thing that you mark it so you dont bring it in and try to break it to use it =

been there done that :lol:

felt like a right 'twit' :oops:

timewarp · **Joined:** Sat Mar 20, 2010 2:13 pm **Posts:** 385

i just put golf balls in all my boxes for new layers

works for me :mrgreen:

SO FAR , and the best part is i'm not tempted to eat them

. cheers n beers gary

flashfowl · **Joined:** Sun Oct 17, 2010 2:57 pm **Posts:** 6

Wow so golf balls really work? I had read that on the internet. I assume they would need to be white balls?

rainbow · **Posted:** Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:27 pm

I use plain white golf balls in my chooks nest and it works for us too!

speks · **Posted:** Wed Oct 20, 2010 10:24 pm

Glad someone else is having the same prob...all my girls liked laying in the SAME nest box...large black pot as I tried boxes etc but noooo so a pot YESSSS...but the prob was my plymouth decided to go broody in it...moved plymouth and whole thing into the broody pen and put another black pot in with false eggs...then left their eggs in it and still they won't lay in it but on the ground BEHIND IT [smilie=a_doh.gif]

those goldies are a problem...lol

Speks

momofhens · **Joined:** Wed Oct 20, 2010 9:47 am **Posts:** 1

I had the same issues and used the false eggs but it did take them week to get the message not to mention my constant mutterings in the coop aimed at the offending hens

Ben n Deb · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:47 pm

speks wrote:

Glad someone else is having the same prob...all my girls liked laying in the SAME nest box...large black pot as I tried boxes etc but noooo so a pot YESSSS...but the prob was my plymouth decided to go broody in it...moved plymouth and whole thing into the broody pen and put another black pot in with false eggs...then left their eggs in it and still they won't lay in it but on the ground BEHIND IT [smilie=a_doh.gif]

those goldies are a problem...lol

Speks

I have a similar problem, only I have 2 muscovies sitting on a mixed batch of eggs! I don't mind that, as we are after both duckling and chicks, but the problem, is that one of my hens keeps laying on top of them every day! [smilie=a_doh.gif]

My other hens have moved to another nesting box, but I'm at my wits end working out how to stop this one hen. Any ideas anyone?

Roova · **Posted:** Thu Oct 21, 2010 6:03 pm

You need to move the broody out to be by herself. If you absolutely can't then you need to mark the eggs she starts sitting on so fresh eggs can be removed each day.

I have heaps of warning about your situation unfortunately...

Ducks tend to squash chickens which are much more fragile than ducklings. They'll walk over the top of them and won't even realise they're standing on one. Ducklings tends to cope with this a little better. They can also drown in water by following ducklings in. Another problem is Mum will be going in for a wash and chickens don't do so well under a wet mum. Ducklings don't need the heat like chickens do as they have an extra layer of fat on them whereas chickens will still want to climb under quite often.

If you leave a broody in a communal spot with eggs at different stages of growth you'll probably lose all the ones close to hatching when Mum is ready to leave the nest. They are driven to leave the nest with their babies about 24 hours after they've hatched to find food and water (even if its right in front of them) and they'll walk away from unhatched eggs in most cases.

Lastly adult ducks/chooks wont' think the resulting babies amongst them are cute babies. They'll potentially harm or kill them. It can also be stressful for new mum's trying to keep their babies safe but with no where to go.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, hope it all works out for you.

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