Tips for getting chickens to lay in their coop?

[sarahbeth827]

We have 3 chickens that are free range but get looked in their coop overnight. They also have access to their coop all day. Our chickens are just starting to lay but are hit or miss with laying eggs in their nesting boxes...I just found a stash in the yard Any tips for getting them to lay in the coop instead of the yard? Thanks!

 

[mickey328]

Ours did that too...in the coop but on the floor. We enclosed the nest boxes and that seemed to do the trick...they like a darkish quiet place. You might also try putting golf balls or fake eggs in the nest boxes so they get the idea. Keeping them in the coop longer in the morning might well help too.

Mickey

 

[Fred's Hens]

OK, you're a young pullet. Your keeper lets you out every morning to roam the whole world. You've learned your little corner of the world pretty well. One day, the urge to begin laying eggs overcomes you. You ask yourself, as a young pullet does, "Now where should I build a little nest?" "Maybe under the back porch where the sand is soft?" "Or maybe down by the creek where the grass is nice?" So, you pick yourself out the best spot you like and it soon becomes your spot.

These pullets haven't a clue you want them to lay in their coop. If you release to free range in the morning, you are telling inexperienced pullets to choose any spot they like. Soon, they find one and build a clutch and others of their flock do the same, and build themselves a nice pile of eggs, maybe taking turns between a couple of nests on alternate days.

They don't know those boxes you built in their coop are intended for them.


So, what to do? Keep them locked in their coop for a few days. Inside there, the pullets only have a few choices. If they look in the nest boxes you provided and see a golf ball or two, they'll get the idea that this must be the place. They'll start to own those nest boxes. If you turn them loose just in the late afternoon, when laying is done, they'll still have 4 or 5 hours of daylight to go roaming. After a week of this? They'll come back to the coop to lay, even if turned loose.

If you've potty trained a child or house broke a dog, you sort of get the idea.