Why has one of my hens taken to laying in the run?

[Bramax]

I got four hybrids in August and they have all been in lay for five or six weeks. We often get four eggs per day so I assume that means they are all laying, but I haven't worked out which hen is laying which eggs. Until yesterday every egg has been in the nest box.

Yesterday mid morning I went to check on the girls and found an egg in the run, not in a sheltered spot and no attempt at making a nest, just in the middle of the run! I have just been out to check on them today, and found an egg in the same place! Could this be a sign of any problem or illness? And how can I go about finding out which of my girls is doing it, an is there anyway of encouraging her to go back to laying in the nest box?

 

[Marigold]

What sorts of hybrids are they? If you got a mixed batch, people could perhaps help you to decide which colour egg was most likely to have come from which hen. (Eg, my Amber Star lays mid-brown eggs with greyish speckles and my Silver Star lays smaller, rounder eggs which are pale beige/pink all over. A White Star will lay large all-white eggs like porcelain.) Of course if they're all the same breed, you'll just have to watch out for who is doing it! As long as it's only one egg per day, presumably from the same bird, this is probably just an oddity of hers, rather than general reluctance of all of them to go in the nestbox, which might suggest redmite.

 

[chrismahon]

Sounds as though you have only one nest box and perhaps need two. One hen will have been in laying and she has been bullied out of the box and had no option but to lay outside. Or she has heard you coming and thought it was treats so rushed out. Quite normal to have an egg in the run. Problem is it may become a habit and get broken. The hens eat it and conclude that eggs are great and eat them whenever they see them outside. Worst case though they eat them from the nest box.
Before that happens provide two nest boxes. Problem with hybrids they all want to lay at the same time first thing in the morning so when we had 4 the coop was built with 4 nest boxes. The Pedigrees in with them tend to lay after 11.00am, if they feel like it of course.

 

[Bramax]

Thanks for your replies. We do only have one nest box, which could be divided into two if necessary as there are two areas. However the majority of eggs we have had have been laid in the left hand side. We have only had a couple of eggs laid in the right hand side, so generally they all seem to want to lay in the same place. The eggs have been cold on both occassions so it's not that they're hearing me coming and rushing out.

As for what sort of hybrids they are I have a columbian black tail, light sussex, rhode rock and blue marran, so if anyone could describe what the eggs should look like from each hen then that would be good. The eggs that are being laid in the run are pale brown with dark brown speckles, more obvious at one end of the egg. I think it is either the CBT or rhode rock, as I'm sure the blue marran lays the much darker speckled eggs that I get, and the light sussex was in the house laying when I found the first egg in the run yesterday.

 

[Marigold]

If she is a light sussex, she's not a hybrid, is she? My buff sussex lays pale papery-cream plain-coloured eggs. The CBT I used to have laid like the ones you describe, and they were narrower in shape and more pointed than some of the others. She also laid a good big egg in relation to her comparatively small size, often topping 70 grams, larger than the bigger hybrids.

Is the left hand side of the nestbox darker during the day than the right side, perhaps because of the way the sunlight falls into the house? Have a hen's eye view look from inside - I realised one of my boxes had a crack of light shining in if I didn't shut it carefully, and this is the one they use the least often. I agree that 4 hens will need two boxes, (at the moment it sounds a bit like the inevitable queue at the Ladies during the theatre interval) but you need to make each box equally dark, private and attractive, perhaps by hanging of lightweight 'curtains' sacking over the fronts, once you've divided them??

 

[Chuck]

There is a light Sussex type hybrid and they like the pure breed tend to lay tinted rather than brown eggs which you would expect from the other three types.

Eggs laid on the floor are a bit vulnerable to damage, tend to get dirty and are often a struggle to get to. Apart from that, no harm will come.

 

[valeriebutterley]

All of you lucky people with civilised hens who actually use nest boxes!
Most of my layers, Warrens and purebreds, choose a favourite spot and do the deed. Lovely as I make them
for them, and cosy, with my lot nest boxes seem surplus to requirements, I have practically given up.
Only the bantams in a "Henrietta's House" seem to have grown up with the right idea and deposit eggs as they should!!

 

[daniellesdogs]

if you have red mite they will start to lay somewere else and this time of year there loads.
none of mine lay were they sleep so took boxes away they like to lay in the cat carrier in the house or when cooler the compost bin

 

[Bramax]

Well all four hens have laid today and all four eggs were in the nest box, so hopefully the laying in the run thing was a temporary blip. Thank you all for your replies.