AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Hi all,
firstly can anyone tell me how to search this forum? I would like to search topics before posting as I am sure my questions have been asked before but I can't seem to find a search function anywhere??

Anyway - advice required!
I have 3 chooks and they are 2 yrs old. I have had them for about 3 months now - all good. When I first got them I kept them locked in their hutch for 24 hours so they knew that is where they are supposed to lay. And it worked for the first couple of months. Lately though they have taken to laying in the back yard. They have free range of the yard which is quite big - with lots of little nooks and crannies of rockery and bushes etc for them to explore. They were laying in one particular bush but then it changed... I couldn't find it for a week and after lots of searching I found the stash with 14 eggs in it!!!
I have fenced this area off now but now everyday I have to hunt through the entire backyard looking for any eggs they may have laid in secret spots!!! I am a bit worried that in summer secret egg stashes will attract snakes or other wildlife seeking these as food.
It has been suggested that I let them out later in the day so they lay in their nesting boxes but I have to leave for work by 7am so I can't. Also I when I let them out of a morning I always scoop out the straw with poo on it as I heard they don't like to lay where they poop. They are sleeping in the nesting boxes - not sure if this has anything to do with it?
I would appreciate any advice and my apologies if this has been asked a hundred times before!

I think you have to have a certain number of posts before you can use the Search function which you will find under the Australian Poultry Forum Banner next to FAQ and in between Members and User Control Panel.

Could you possibly post a photo of their nesting box, coop & run & pen? If you have to leave for work at 7am then I would suggest that make a secure run around their nesting box/coop that no predators or other beasties can enter for them and enclose them in the area so that they can lay in their nesting box and you don't have to have a daily similar Easter egg hunt.

Chooks sleep in their nesting box because it is warm and cosy, especially in Winter, perfectly normal if you are a chook. Great that you can clean their poop out each morning, they will lay their eggs in poop in the nesting box, all very normal for chooks, as mentioned great that you can clean it out each morning. Put a couple of plastic dummy eggs in there so they know where to lay.

I think you and your girls are lucky that they can free range all day unsupervised and not live in fear of Mr. Fox, neighbour's dogs, feral dogs and cats attacking them.

Hi 3LL

I don't think 24 hours is long enough for the chooks to establish their true home status, I think you're lucky it worked for so long.

I kept my girls in their house for a week before letting them out, so they got to know well and truly the lay of their new land, like where they go to lay eggs, who sleeps in what spot, who gets the higher perch over the others, who is boss of the new home etc...

But by the sounds of things you don't have roosts, unless I am missing something in you post. I know you said you take out the poop but if I was a chook I wouldn't want to sit for half an hour on top of a stinky poop either, so I would seek alternate sources. All it takes is for one poop not to be picked up to make them change their habit. Could that have happened? As they do have sensitive noses you know, but PP is also right that, they will lay their eggs in poop, but you may have fussy chooks (which is also not uncommon).

Sounds like you need to retrain them.

I suggest locking them up for a few more days in a row with maybe just a small amount of free range time when you get home in the arvo, so they do get out, but then put themselves to bed. Make sure they have roosts to sleep on and take away the nesting material at bed time so they learn to use the roosts. Then when they are using the roosts, go back down later on in the night & put the nesting material in the nesting box so that when they wake up there is nice fresh nesting to lay their lovely eggs on. Then when they know they have a definite place to go into, they will free range but return to the nesting boxes to lay their eggs each time.

It's not a simple solution & does require a bit of work but it is possible to retrain them. So hopefully you won't get any nasty visitors dropping by for a good ol fashioned Easter egg hunt.

It's not the best solution ever & I don't know what sort of pen you have & if it is going to cause them great a discomfort to be locked up each day/ all day, but it is required if you wish to change the habits they have developed. Think of it as a short term discomfort for a long term happiness

Hope I was helpful

Oh and PP is right you don't get the search function until you have lot more posts under your belt.

Cheers
Chicka-Dee

The easiest is to leave a couple of dummy nest eggs like has been suggested but it can cause them to become broody too, they do tend to like to lay in the same nest as the others and if a collection of eggs has occurred then they are taken away they do like to find a new hiding place . My arauncana's are the worst for doing this.

Those dummy eggs are marvelous it worked in training my girls to lay in the boxes and not under trees in the yard

Thanks so much everyone for your responses! I will take a photo of my hutch in the next day or so and post it so you can see it all

I thought my hens were off the lay until I found 22 eggs under a tree in the garden DOH!

All my girls return to the coop to lay, do you have lots of boxes and good straw in them?

I know I could let mine out of their run and house they have lived there long enough to learn where to lay and where to sleep but

The shed on the south side of the hen house is leased out and too many cars around.

Yes and chickens and cars don't mix