Laying eggs outside the coop inside an old clay pot !

[Pbccmom]

So my Australorp laid her first egg yesterday. I saw her inside an old large pot. I thought she was stuck and took her out. She laid it on the ground and kept moving lol. Today as soon as I let her free she was fiercely looking for the same pot. I had cleaned it and placed it near where they roam and play it flat so it was easy in and out. Looks like she didn’t like it. There was another pot I was planning to moving and had cleaned I laid straw and a ceramic egg. She didn’t like it. Kept searching. I had to relocate the pot she was in yesterday exactly where it was located and now she is laying there. I am doing something wrong? Why is she not laying in her coop? Is there a laying in the same place behavior that I need to be aware of?

 

[nuthatched]

Turn over the pot
She just wants some privacy.

 

[Perris]

a couple of mine like one particular pot in one particular place too. One even incubated an egg and hatched a chick there. Your girl just thinks that that pot in that place seemed like a nice safe place to lay. You're not doing anything wrong. If there's no good reason why she shouldn't lay there, I'd let her continue. At least you'll know where her eggs are. If you make that spot unavailable, she might find a new less accessible or less safe place to lay. Or she might use the nesting box in the coop. Does it really matter?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am doing something wrong?

Nothing that I can see.

Why is she not laying in her coop?

The short answer is that she prefers to lay in that pot. I do not know why. She has her reasons. Her logic and reasoning are different from mine. It works that way with living animals. Sometimes they do what we want but only because it is what they also want, though you can often train them.

Is there a laying in the same place behavior that I need to be aware of?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. A hen imprints on her nest, wherever she decides to make it. That is an instinct from before they were domesticated. They would lay all of the eggs in one nest and then incubate and hatch them. If they did not lay them in one nest they would have become extinct. Songbirds do the same thing.

So, what can you do? Perris mentioned one option. If you are comfortable with her laying there, let her continue.

If you do not want her laying there you can lock her in the coop for a week or more so she cannot get to that pot to lay. She will have to lay somewhere else. If she is locked in the coop then her new nest will be somewhere in the coop. It might or might not be in your nests. In the meantime remove that pot so she does not have it to go back to when you finally let her out.

Some people block that nest to force her to lay somewhere else. That might be in your nest but I would not count on it. It did not work when you took it away, though she would have wound up laying somewhere.

I have never tried this but some people say it worked for them. Let her lay in that pot where it is for a couple of days. Then move it a foot or two closer to your coop. If she continues to use it move it a bit closer in another two or three days. Eventually you may be able to get that pot in her coop where she can use it for a nest where you want her to. Or if you don't want that pot in your coop, remove it after she is used to laying in it in the coop and see if she switches to one of your nests. She might or she might go somewhere totally different.

I don't have the patience to do that. When I built my nests I made a couple of them so I could lock a hen in them. That's come in handy for a few different things. For this, when I catch her on the wrong nest laying I catch her and lock her in a nest I want her to use. Catching her often involves a lot of running and a fishing net. I leave her locked in my nest until she lays her egg. That's usually within a half hour of locking her in there but I have had a hen take two hours. Usually I only have to do that once and she starts using my nest but I have had to do that two days in a row before that hen caught on.

This is a really common problem and can be frustrating. Good luck on finding a way that works for you.

 

[Mrs. K]

Whims - that is what determines where they lay. They will be faithful to a spot...and then for no apparent reason, they will change.

The above advice is good, is this a place easy to check? If so, don't sweat it. She won't lay there forever, and do not be surprised if other hens think it is a good spot too.

I have a coop that I have had for years, with nests that have worked just fine for decades. Two years ago, I had a hen that preferred the floor. If I blocked it off, she created a new spot on the floor, as close as she could. It was under the roosts, back in a hard to reach corner. I blocked it off. Now we compromise, in a spot, under a bench, close to the door...on the floor. Pretty soon several were laying there.

Then one day - they all went back to the proper nests. Go figure.

Mrs K

 

[Pbccmom]

Turn over the pot
She just wants some privacy.

I did she didn’t like it she wanted up