How to teach Ethel to use a nesting box and not the ivy when laying eggs???

[larsand]

Hi All,

Our girls recently started laying - yay! We have five hens and - as it turns out - one rooster. I built three nesting boxes, so clearly our hen to nest box ratio is fine (sorry, I'm an engineer...). One of the girls, Ethel, has gotten in the habit of jumping a fence and laying her eggs in a secluded spot in the ivy next to the fence. Same spot every time, so at least we can find the eggs. We'd like to nip this behavior early, and teach her to use one of the boxes. Eliminating her chosen spot is easy - just cut the ivy back - but now it's rolling the dice to see if Ethel starts using a box or picks an even more inconvenient spot. So I'm looking for way to train her. I've had a golf ball in each nesting box for weeks to give the girls the right idea. I'm not sure what else I can do, and any suggestions would be appreciated. I could leave her a note that she'll get extra sesame seed treats if she starts using a box, but not sure if that'll work...

Thanks,

Lars

 

[ChickRaiserRN]

We are having the same problem! Only, we do not know which of our 7 are those laying. My father-in-law said to put the laid egg in the nesting box and then put her on it (which we can't do b/c we don't know which hen is laying). Maybe you can try that? We just got our 2nd layer today, the other has been laying for about 5 days now. GL!

 

[topdog24]

Have you tried hanging a curtain in front of an out of the way nesting box, she may like the privacy and start using that box, some hens do not like laying where other hens lay, you may have to place her in it the first time or two, you could also try putting some of the Ivy in the box for a couple of days.

 

[ChickRaiserRN]

Oh, and BTW, one of our hens is named Ethel, too! Her look-alike sister is Lucy.

 

[topdog24]

It really don't matter whether it is the right one or not, all your hens will eventually start laying, just put a different one everyday, as they stat laying, they should associate ( eggs/ nest ) train them before they start.

 

[larsand]

@ChickRaiserRN, we have Ethel and Lucy, too! My wife came up with it!

 

[ladyarabella]

All my six hens chose our guinea pig hutchs top level which WAS the ducks house till they got too big
I hav had eggs laid else where but this spot is warm dry and although enclosed on three sides has wire to c out my daughters pets them while they lay
Some hens I guess r fussy

 

[ladyarabella]

I've heard fake eggs in the nesting boxing can encourage ur gals to lay were u want