Do you use nest boxes?

My gals are laying and I'm finding eggs everywhere! I'm most concerned that they leave them lying in the yard in the snow, and I don't find them until they're frozen solid and cracked, or until I step on them (ick!!). Does it help to use some sort of nest box where they can focus their production? I know Vicki says she just piles a deep layer of straw in a corner of a stall, but since I don't have specific "stall" areas in my barn, I've "built" stalls by setting bales of straw and hay around specific areas I want them to use. The areas are also bedded in straw (with fresh straw on top each morning to cover up the wet and poopy stuff!). However, I've only found one egg (lightly covered by straw) on one occasion; they seem to wait until they go out in the morning before they lay. Should I just keep them in longer? Should I try to re-establish them in my old poultry shed (I could move out all the stuff I'm storing there.) It's only 6' x 8', but it's snug and secure, and I COULD put up a chainlink enclosure around it if necessary. That would help control where they go. However, what about the idea of nest boxes? Would they help?

I'd appreciate it if anyone who answers would also e-mail me a copy of the post because I'll be on PDA for the next couple of days, and I don't have enough memory to access this site from the PDA. Thanks!!!

Judith
judithkorff@yahoo.com

Well, I guess they do appreciate nest boxes -- Tiffany has now taken over a cat carrier that was in the barn. She has a lovely nest inside (although it's dratted hard to check on eggs because she won't get off while I'm around). One of the new young gals has establish HER nest right outside the door to the carrier, and the other is starting to set just a couple of feet away. Maybe I'll look for a few more large carriers for "nest year." The good thing is that I don't have to watch where I step, because the eggs are protected from my wandering around the stall while feeding, etc.

Glad they've all found a place.
Good luck with your hatches.

I put nest boxes in my pens a while ago in the hopes that the girls (Khaki Campbells) would use them as faithfuly as my chickens do and keep the eggs a bit cleaner.

Unfortunately about half of the eggs are laid in the nest boxes, with "just about anywhere" being the preferred alternative. It makes it a bit of an adventure trying to find them all as they like to cover them over with straw.

Yeah, the covering them with straw is a real nuisance - especially when they were laying near the well pump! I don't know which is worse, twisting your ankle when you step on one, or smashing the egg!

Now I'm a bit confused, though. Tiffany is no longer setting, but the two young gals are setting just fine. Nobody's using the cat carrier, but I can't get a hand into it to check to see if Tiff left any eggs because one of the young gals is right outside the entrance (maybe that's why Tiff decided to leave - she couldn't get in and out for food/water and to stretch her legs!)

Do you mean one is setting on eggs right by Tiffs nest?

Actually, today all three females were sitting in a group (it's a group nest, I guess). Tiffany was in the center with the two young gals one on each side; none of them were in the box, but I'd turned it a bit so I could open a panel gate more easily, so maybe they don't like the new direction it faces.

There appear to be 2-3 "nests" grouped together. They all sit snuggled up together, and I've seen them act very comfortable, keeping one another warm. I watched today as Tiffany slid an egg out from beneath the girl on her right and pushed it beneath herself and settle back on it! Sort of team-tag setting??? I have seen both the young girls rising up and moving eggs around, repositioning them, but this is the first time I've seen anybody move an egg from one "nest" to another. I do know that there are large eggs and small eggs in each nest, if that's any explanation.

Yes they do try to steal each others eggs.
Funny girls.
This could be a problem if the eggs were'nt all set on the same day.
If you have mixed hatch dates the girls could abandon the unhatched eggs when the first ones hatch out.

What about if I grab the hatchlings and put them in a brooder? Will they keep setting any unhatched eggs, or abandon the nest(s)?

I would take the eggs away 3 days before they're due to pip. The incubator should be ready for them about 98º and 70 - 80% humidity. If you allow them to hatch out under the goose she might stop setting.