Chickens laying on floor

[Tammy01]

I have a lovely hen house with beautiful new nest boxes with outside doors to open and collect eggs. Several chickens continue to lay eggs on the floor. They use the nests, and there are always a few eggs in the same few boxes. I can go in the hen house to pick up eggs, but this defeats my whole plan. Any suggestions to get the chickens off the floor?

[CountryKitty]

More boxes?

Seriously, how many hens and boxes are we talking about? If all the nest boxes are occupied, a hen in urgent need to lay will lay on the floor.

[Anon001]

*Several chickens continue to lay eggs on the floor. *

LOL At least you know where the eggs are! LOL sometimes I have to hunt....

[walls0stone]

I had the same trouble with some birds I recived from a chicken farmer. He told me to put them in the box and don't let them out for a bit. not like a cage bird, just, hold them in for a few mins. It worked! Now my trouble is they all want to lay in one box for no reason, it's just the first box on the walk.

[pathwayholding]

Did you try putting golf balls in the nesting boxes? I did that when I first put the boxes in and all the eggs were in the box the next morning. They kept that up for about six weeks. Now one of the girls has decided she will be laying her egg up in the overhang. I have to climb up on their roosting pole every day to get it. I guess I too should be happy that at least I know where it is.

I read four chickens can share a nest box. Geez, my four kids couldn't even share a bathroom! I've got a picture in my head now of a chicken banging on the nest box squawking about how bad she needs to get in there.

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[lsg]

We use golf balls in the nest also. It works. Once in-a-while we find an egg on the floor, usually when the pullets start laying.

[walls0stone]

golf balls eh? thanks for the tip! Dad joked about a breed of hen he had that would try to hatch a rock they were so broody :)

[walls0stone]

Oh on the subject of lay'n.. I was told today that if you wake your birds at 5am, they will all be on the same scedual. Mine kinda lay at diff times. So the heat lamp is now set to pop on at 5am and go off 14 hrs later.

[pathwayholding]

When mine first started laying they laid at all different times of the day. I'm not quite sure how or why but now they all lay within about a 2 hour time frame.

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[harvester]

Heres some pointers that ive learned over the many years of raising chickens. We used to carry 200 laying hens to supply local restarants with.

Heavy breeds need low nests. They arent good jumpers and can break eggs inside them when they do jump down from a high nest. And they are awkward climbers if you are useing a ladder for them to get to the nests. Our lowest nests were no more than 1foot off the ground.

Chickens like a variety of choices to lay their eggs. Some pick out one nest they claim as theirs and will live their life laying in only that nest. Some like to lay in other places besides the same ole nest. We provided 1 nest box per 2 hens. We had a wall of nests in our henhouse. The banties went to the higher nests. The heavies used the lower nests.

Dont put bedding material on your floor. no straw or shavings. That will encourrage them to lay on the floor.

Keep your nest boxes spanking clean! Ive noticed that especially the heavy breeds can be finiky about the cleanliness of their nesting boxes.

Once one hen lays an egg on the floor, others will follow suit. Gather your eggs three times a day untill you learn when the hen is laying on the floor. Pick up her eggs immediately. It will prevent others from laying on the floor.

Placing a brick in the spot where she is laying her egg will help her to look for a new spot to lay. With any luck she will pick a nest box next.

Sometimes putting a single box on the floor for their nest, right where they are laying their eggs at will box train them. Pick up their egg off the floor, put it in the box on the floor. Most likely they will lay in the box next time. After they have faithfully used the box on the floor for a week or so, take the box out. Again, hopefully they will look for another nest box and use the right ones.

Make sure your nest boxes are the right size for your hens. A big hen will not want to use a cramped nest box.

Hope this helps. :)

[Tammy01]

Hello - Thank you for all of the ideas. Right now I have 28 12x12 boxes. 7 in a row about 1 foot of the floor and another 7 on top of those. Each row has a roost running along the front. The opposite wall has the same configuration. I currently have 14 hens and 2 roostersThe house (named chicken utopia -castle, actually) is about 12x14 feet (converted horse shed) floored, with a full door and a low chicken door.
I do have shavings on the floor - they started out in the nests, but the chickens kicked them out. The hens do seem to lay only in about 3 of the boxes and in the right back corner on the floor. It seems the popular nests are the dirtiest - filled with dirt and whatnot, not shavings. I will try the suggestions and Thank everyone who chimed in!

[Tammy01]

I put the golf balls out...It seemed to work...then they stopped laying...now only 2 eggs in 3 days... usually getting about 10 -12...the weather changed overnight...much warmer...not sure what is up?

[Anon001]

Are they going through their spring moult?

[Tammy01]

Are they going through their spring moult? *
Nope - at least I do see anything like that...and no eggs today.

[Anon001]

Chickens normally go through two molts a year... in the fall and in the spring. *Between the two molts, egg production usually goes way down and if it doesn't, I think it does at the actual time of the molt. *Otherwise, it sounds like you have a thief...either a snake or something else that would take the egg and shell..... *If a hen starts eating the eggs, you can usually see signs such as shell pieces. *However, they will also eat the shells if they have no oyster shell and need the calcium...I think it's calcium.. lol *

If it is a hen eating eggs, then you will have to eliminate her. *Same thing if it's a snake. *You don't have dogs or cats that can get into the hen house do you? *Or do the hens go out at all? If so, they may be laying somewhere else and you just not finding the eggs. *Some times if you upset the laying habit or their nest they will start laying somewhere else... a survivalist mode.

[harvester]

It is a difficult time of year for chickens to be producing. Lighting is key to egg production. However egg production should be getting better this time of year, not worse.
You never said how old your hens were, eventually older hens will get slower and slower to produce in the comming spring and alot of them will stop producing through the winter regardless what you do. Age could be a factor.
Ideally chickens should have an enclosed house or coop with free access to an outside run. This helps on their lighting they need to produce eggs. If they have been penned up inside all winter then most likely they are not getting the light they need and they are simply giving out. Production will return when the daylight hours increase and they can get outside.
I dont know what your weather is there, but usually moult is a weather/lighting thing...triggered by tempurature and hours of light lengthening. Where we are we wont see our chickens moult until about may.
If you have done some majoy remodeling of the hen house recently, or there are new and disturbing noises or activities that have occured nearby they could slow down because of this too. However chickens are pretty tough when it comes to disturbances and will usually lay right through most anything, atleast a few diehard dedicated layers will. This is breed dependant too.
diet change will effect production for a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
Milk in the diet has the reputation of completely stoping egg production in some flocks. And severely hindering egg production in most flocks. This was a test that I conducted back in my 20's (the good ole days) when I was prez of the poultry club and local judge. out of 30 farms tested by feeding milk to their flocks for one week there was a noticable drop in egg production of atleast 30% in all farms tested. After two weeks of feeding milk (and this is along with regular rations) there was a loss of production of 70% to complete failure to produce. Most flocks were producing normally between 1-2 weeks after the test. It was a wives tale i wanted to prove right or wrong. I was good like that..lol..
anyway, i digress....
A predator may be your problem, check the hen house and surrounding area for scat and tracks.
Otherwise hope for spring soon and see what happens, it may be your hens are just running out of oomph and need replacing, some do this sooner than others.

[Anon001]

Harvester, she stated that she had been getting eggs this winter...10 to 12 per day.
It is most likely:
1. Predator (snakes, egg eating dogs, etc.)
2. Molt
3. Hen(s) eating eggs
4. Aged Hens (will slow down, but wouldn't explain such a drastic drop)
5. Broody. When a hen goes broody, she stops laying for a few days. Most of your hens could have gone broody at the same time...odd that they would all do it at the same time, but it could happen.

I would look at the possibilities in the order I've listed them as most likely to least likely based on such a drastic change all at once.

How many hens do you have and do they run out?

[harvester]

Harvester, she stated that she had been getting eggs this winter...10 to 12 per day.
It is most likely:
1. *Predator (snakes, egg eating dogs, etc.)
2. *Molt
3. *Hen(s) eating eggs
4. *Aged Hens (will slow down, but wouldn't explain such a drastic drop)
5. *Broody. *When a hen goes broody, she stops laying for a few days. *Most of your hens could have gone broody at the same time...odd that they would all do it at the same time, but it could happen.

I would look at the possibilities in the order I've listed them as most likely to least likely based on such a drastic change all at once.

How many hens do you have and do they run out?

Ok ill play.
1. Predator, possibly, but why are the chickens still there?
2. moult, hmmmm, pretty early for moult.
3. hens eating eggs, have you seen the sticky left overs on the floor? if you have then that would explain it. Most chickens dont lick up every drop of eaten egg and you will see leftovers.
4. aged hens. yep would show a slow to immediate drop. when they run out of eggs to produce, they simply run out of eggs to produce. biology 101
5. broody...see answer for #2

she did say she had 14 hens and two roosters.

ok so this game was fun, for about a minute. But i much preferr giving my opinions to the origonal posters question rather than arguing postings from other peoples opinions..wouldnt you paul?

[Anon001]

Ok ill play.
1. Predator, possibly, but why are the chickens still there?
2. moult, hmmmm, pretty early for moult.
3. hens eating eggs, have you seen the sticky left overs on the floor? if you have then that would explain it. Most chickens dont lick up every drop of eaten egg and you will see leftovers.
4. aged hens. yep would show a slow to immediate drop. when they run out of eggs to produce, they simply run out of eggs to produce. biology 101
5. broody...see answer for #2

she did say she had 14 hens and two roosters.

ok so this game was fun, for about a minute. But i much preferr giving my opinions to the origonal posters question rather than arguing postings from other peoples opinions..wouldnt you paul?

1. Not all predators take the chickens. *Snakes eat eggs and leave the chickens. *Egg eating dogs will take eggs and leave the chickens.
2. *It is most certainly not too early for moult. *Much of it depends not only on the daylight but also on the breed and genetics. *Most egg producers will cull out the fall early molters and the spring late molters to shorten the time between the two molts as much as possible and develop a flock that moults late in fall and early in spring
3. *just about what I stated. *There may be signs..... it also depends on how much if any litter (hay, straw, shavings) and or how much manure has accumulated and how much scratching.
4. *Age could be dramatic but if you have 14 hens, *12 will most likely not all stop on the same day due to age. *common sense 101.. experience 101.
5. *broody is still a possibility even in late winter early spring, but I listed it as the last suspect.

I don't argue with other people's postings unless they give incorrect factual information OR unless they did not pay attention to what the poster posted. *Your posting made gave the impression that the hens had not been laying all winter which was not what she stated. *So, yes, I agree that response to the original posting is the most important unless someone responds with answers that either do not quite fit or is not factually based. *So, if you don't like arguing then quit always second posting me and arguing. *nuff said. *I have been around chickens all my life... I not only gave options for her to consider but also made sure they were factual based on experience and evidences from extension council literature as well. *Your information came from where?

[harvester]

I agree that response to the original posting is the most important unless someone responds with answers that either do not quite fit or is not factually based. *So, if you don't like arguing then quit always second posting me and arguing. *nuff said. *I have been around chickens all my life... I not only gave options for her to consider but also made sure they were factual based on experience and evidences from extension council literature as well. *Your information came from where?


lets see, so assuming your answers are the only available answers and must be absolutely correct and no one elses experiences could possibly be correct. well there u have it then..
not everyones animal husbandry tactics are the same, and change due to many many variables. One who does not take this into account and and posts as if someone elses answers are wrong only shows their lack of experience. not only with the animals in question, but with human nature as well, and common sence. what works with your animals may not work with someone elses and vice versa. no point argueing whos right or wrong on any subject.
also if you will look back on the majority of the postings i have done in this entire forum, your argumentative posting always follow mine, not vice versa. Maybe i would quit defending myself i f you quit attacking me. huh?
where does my experience come from? well, you never stated where yours came from. and does it really matter? the fact is you have done it, i have done it we each have done it differently and everyone else has done differently from you or me. whos right? everyone is. because it worked for them.
I could nit pick every single thing you have posted, trying to prove your facts. but why should i? maybe some will work, the thing is you only put down what you suspected was the root cause/causes. Your ideas. what you have experienced. As did I. Its called food for thought. some ideas to give the op something to mull over and do the final deduction themselves.
lets just try to make the best of it paul. Im feeling like you have it out for me for no known reason other than your experiences are different from mine. Now you are looking really childish to me keeping this up. I dont have time for it, or patience or the wanting to. Ive out grown those things.
Hey i have an idea, whenever you see a posting ive made, why not just try to ignore it? Im sure thats what ill do from here on out.
I will apologize to the op for the argumentative actions taken place in your posting, it will stop now. garantee it. lets move on.

[Anon001]

Harvester, enough is enough... If you wanna pick a fight go pick it with someone else... I'm done with you and will not condescend to your level any longer. I never said my facts are the only ones although they do come from printed verifiable books and well respected authors...

That is all I have to say to you.
So let it go.

[Tammy01]

Hi - Just an update - Last weekend, we re-did the chicken castle. *Cut the space down to 14 nests (wood walls, low ceiling), cleaned out all bedding, left 2-3 golf balls in all nests. Today - 15 eggs, none on the floor!
Thank you for all the suggestions! :)