Chicken won't lay egg in nest box

[Kathecc]

Hey guys, I have a quick question. I have a chicken that just started laying her eggs and She laid them outside, not in the nest box. She goes into the coop and lays into the box for a while and then comes out and lays the egg outside instead. I have put fake eggs in the nest box. Bedding is also in the nest box to make it nice. I even put the chicken refresh in it now. Her sister that also started laying eggs around the same time. She lays in her box that she likes very good but she is also a different breed and they lay at different times. Just wondering if there's anything else I can do for her to lay in the nest box and not outside , it seems like she likes to be around the open air when she lays so I'm not sure if I should put something outside for her. Any help would be much appreciated thank you.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hi, don't worry. It's not unusual for pullets to lay in weird places when they just start out. It's like they don't really know what's happening, or don't have real good control. Kinda like babies getting potty trained, lol! Just keep the fake eggs (or golf balls!) in the nests, she'll sort it out eventually!

 

[Livia Ammon]

My chickens lay all over the place, and I’ve tried for months to get them to lay in the box, but they don’t, so I just have up and egg hunt every day.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

When my chickens start to "lay out," I confine them to the coop and the very small yard around the coop for about a week or ten days. That "resets" them and reminds them where the nests are, and what they are for. I haven't had to do that in a long time!

 

[Livia Ammon]

My hens have a fairly large coop, so they just lay in the corners, and as I’ve got a roll away near box, I have trouble leaving eggs in the nest, so I just don’t. Perhaps I’ll block off the corners someday and put straw and eggs in the roll away, but not today.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Corners, ugh! I'm old, stiff and now have serious knee issues. I now have buckets in all my corners, lol. One bucket contains a sack of grit, one hold OS. Another has sand for the poop trays and the last one has a bag of PDZ. That'll keep 'em outa those corners!

 

[Livia Ammon]

My chickens are young, and so am I, so I can bend underneath the overhang and get those eggs, but those silly girls once layed an egg in their water, so I don’t think they’d avoid it.

 

[Livia Ammon]

My chickens are young, and so am I, so I can bend underneath the overhang and get those eggs, but those silly girls once layed an egg in their water, so I don’t think they’d avoid it.

It as in any bucket I put there.