Hens dropping eggs from the roost at night

[flindberg]

I'm curious to know if anyone has a suggestion for my 2 golden sex links who mostly drop their eggs while roosting at night. I have 8 other hens of various breeds, all started together around March, and all of whom lay almost always in their four laying boxes - which I think are well-positioned and convenient and clean and lower than the roosting bars in the coop. They are all laying well since I put a light on a timer to give them at least 14 hours per day of light stimulation as the days got darker. And I'm usually getting around 8-9 eggs per day and at least once or twice per week I get 10 for 10 from them. Which I'm still happily surprised about. But the early morning egg check usually has the 2 eggs we know are from Mary and Martha (the sex links) either on the floor of the coop (about four feet below the bar, and sometimes broken), or sometimes caught in a chicken wire mesh thing I rigged below their roosting bar for that purpose. But those eggs are often soiled by droppings also, while the ones in the laying boxes never are.
I've thought about trying to put a dim "night light" in one of the laying boxes on a timer at night, as I suspect they drop them when maybe they are half asleep and it is not very convenient for them to make their ways around the other chickens to the boxes when it is dark.
Has anyone had a successful solution with a similar problem? Thanks.

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

I moved this thread to our Egg laying forum for more help with this issue.

Welcome to our community!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Welcome to Backyard Chickens. This is a great place to explore and hang out.

 

[Jenbirdee]

welcome to BYC!!

 

[Sparrows]

Hi! Welcome to BYC!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined.

How long have these two been laying? Laying an egg is pretty complicated, lots of things have to come together to put the egg together correctly, lay it where it needs to be laid, and lay it when it needs to be laid. Sometimes it can take a while for a pullet to get all that right. This sounds like a "when to lay the egg", not so much where to lay the egg. You say it happens at night. It usually doesn't take that long for a pullet to figure it out though. So, how long has this been going on?

There are different triggers that tell a pullet or hen when to release an egg yolk to start the internal process of making an egg. It takes about 25 hours after the yolk has been released for the egg to be laid. Light is one of the main triggers. You said you have them on a 14 hour light schedule. That should be straight forward but what does that look like? Do you do that in the morning, evening, or both. Are there other lights around, maybe a security light shining through a window to mess up the timing?

This does not sound like the problem but maybe you'll say something that sets off an alarm.

Another trigger is laying an egg. If a hen is laying every day she often releases that yolk to start its journey through her internal egg making factory a few minutes after the previous one was laid. Since your concern are these two, how often do these two lay? Do they always lay at night? Whie many lay an hour later each day until they bump against nighttime and then skip a day, I have had a few that laid an egg the same time each day for 5 or 6 days in a row. Each hen is different.

Over the years I've had a few pullets lay from the roost when they first started laying. Not many, just a small handful. They normally cleaned it up in few days, finally got control over that process. I gave them time.

But I had one that laid from the roost for two months. I have no idea how to retrain them from doing that so I finally ate her. I hatch and raise them to eat anyway, boys and girls, so she made my decision easy when I was deciding which ones to eat.

Other than being patient if they haven't been laying for long I don't have anything to offer you.

 

[muddy75]

 

[CCsRanch]

I'm curious to know if anyone has a suggestion for my 2 golden sex links who mostly drop their eggs while roosting at night. I have 8 other hens of various breeds, all started together around March, and all of whom lay almost always in their four laying boxes - which I think are well-positioned and convenient and clean and lower than the roosting bars in the coop. They are all laying well since I put a light on a timer to give them at least 14 hours per day of light stimulation as the days got darker. And I'm usually getting around 8-9 eggs per day and at least once or twice per week I get 10 for 10 from them. Which I'm still happily surprised about. But the early morning egg check usually has the 2 eggs we know are from Mary and Martha (the sex links) either on the floor of the coop (about four feet below the bar, and sometimes broken), or sometimes caught in a chicken wire mesh thing I rigged below their roosting bar for that purpose. But those eggs are often soiled by droppings also, while the ones in the laying boxes never are.
I've thought about trying to put a dim "night light" in one of the laying boxes on a timer at night, as I suspect they drop them when maybe they are half asleep and it is not very convenient for them to make their ways around the other chickens to the boxes when it is dark.
Has anyone had a successful solution with a similar problem? Thanks.

Nope, but I have the same problem that recently started with one of my 7 month old hens. Though they drop about 8 feet! I do leave the barn light on a couple of extra hours, but mine aren't as fruitful as yours. I like the light on a timer idea. Would take less energy.