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I Tested Fake Eggs in my Chicken Coop’s Nesting Boxes: Here’s What Happened

If you have more than 1-2 chickens, you likely know that one of the challenges of keeping laying hens is that they tend to want lay eggs practically on top of each other!

In this article, I’ll talk about the fake egg method I tested to “seed” nesting boxes and break up the “communal nest” in my coop. Spoiler: I found this method helped eggs stay unbroken and hens stay unstressed, which both resulted in higher egg production. 

Tips for increasing egg production and decreasing egg breakage by discouraging nest-sharing

 

 

 

The Problem: Shared Nests

Most chicken owners provide more than enough nesting boxes- so why do chickens so frequently choose to share or exclusively lay in one nesting box? Read on.

Most of us get excited about building and outfitting our chicken coop and provide plenty of comfortable nesting boxes so our hens can spread out and lay wherever they want without it getting too crowded. Despite our best efforts, chickens are particularly prone to following a crowd – if one chicken likes a particular box and has laid an egg there – in the minds of the other hens, that nest often becomes “the good one”!

Chickens may take turns laying in the same box and after weeks or months of this nest-time-share, I’ve had chickens completely refuse to lay in any box other than their favorite, resulting in certain hens getting bullied, broken eggs, or, eventually, eggs laid outside the nests entirely.

image by frankieleon via Creative Commons License
When hens try to lay in the same nest at the same time, the result is often hens getting bullied, broken eggs, or, eventually, eggs laid outside the nests entirely. Image by frankieleon via Creative Commons License

The Solution: Fake Eggs

A few years back, on the advice of a veteran poultry tender, I tried a novel solution for dealing with this problem. This woman who’d kept a small flock of chickens for decades advised me that I just needed to get my hands on some fake eggs. 

Preferring a more environmentally sustainable option (and expecting that, if it worked, it might be handy to have on hand to deal with similar problems in the future) I went ahead and invested in a package of solid, unpainted wood eggs. Although they were intended to be used for DIY Easter crafts I’m sure, these wood eggs actually worked great in my coop to “seed” nests! 

How I use Easter eggs to decentralize nesting hens

It’s crazy how well this works: I just keep one fake Easter egg in each nesting box. Each day as I collect eggs I make sure that that one fake egg remains. Ever since I started keeping false eggs in my nesting boxes (about the same time that I replaced my nesting box liners with Astroturf) I haven’t had any problems with hens overcrowding in any particular nesting box. The “girls” have laid much more evenly throughout the provided boxes- as long as there’s that one “egg” present, signaling their little chicken brains that someone else thought it was a good enough nest to lay there.

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Choosing the best type of fake egg  for your chickens:

NOT RECOMMENDED: Easter egg clamshell fake eggs – Due to the bright colors these may not work, but just might be worth trying if you already have them on hand. These lightweight plastic eggs are likely to go flying if they are pushed or packed, so fill them with a few rocks before inserting them into a nest. Easter egg style clamshell eggs are not a good long-term solution, but might work for testing the method.

OKAY: Plastic decorator eggs These hollow foam plastic eggs are visually realistic, but also share the issue of durability and being too lightweight to be a long solution.

BETTER: Unfinished wood eggs This style of false eggs was the type I used for many years, until recently upgrading to ceramic fake eggs. The wood eggs have a nice weight that helps them stay in place, and the unfinished wood finish is “close enough” to have convinced all my chickens to regard them as actual eggs. The downside of unfinished wood eggs is that the open pores can make the eggs harder to clean when, eventually, they get soiled.

I like that they were all wood and completely biodegradable, but the bit of extra weight of the wood eggs means that when I place them somewhere they tend to stay – there much harder for chickens to shove out of the way than plastic Easter eggs.

GOOD: Painted wood eggs – All the benefits of unfinished wood eggs, but with an easier to clean finish. I avoided this type because I was a bit concerned about chickens pecking these eggs and potentially toxic paint chipping off. These could work if you don’t have an egg pecker in your coop.

BEST CHOICE: Ceramic Nest Eggs – Ceramic eggs are the best choice for fake eggs if this is a long-term coop management strategy for you. Ceramic eggs look realistic, have a hefty weight to help them stay where you put them and are easy to disinfect. Ceramic eggs can be washed in the dishwasher or sterilized with high temperatures. Due to the hardness of ceramic, these eggs are also a good choice for retraining hens who have developed a habit of pecking eggs. 

Using eggs to relocate nesting hens:

If you’ve ever replaced your nesting boxes or – to your chickens’ horror- dared to move them,  you know that relocating boxes can cause a total uproar among your flock of chickens. When I installed my reach-through nesting boxes my chickens threw a fit – clearly protesting by laying eggs on the ground below the boxes, on the narrow ledge above the boxes, and just about anywhere else that they could find space. I decided to give the wooden eggs a try, and the next day, as if by magic, all of my eggs were in the new nesting boxes!

Cleaning Fake Chicken Eggs

The only thing I don’t like about the wood decoy eggs is that they were really difficult to clean. As they stayed in my coop year-round, inevitably they got gross and eventually exposed to poop, which seemed to impregnate into the wood. 

You’ll need to have a way to clean your eggs. Ceramic eggs can go in the dishwasher once visible debris is removed. But other fake eggs will need manually washed.  I’ve found the same egg-cleaning towelettes I use on soiled eggs work great for cleaning most smooth-surface fake eggs. 

Tips for increasing egg production and decreasing egg breakage by discouraging nest-sharing

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Sandy J

Tuesday 24th of January 2023

I totally agree. The ceramic ones are most like eggs in weight and color. I mark mine on both ends with a little dot from a Sharpie. I have accidently given some away, lol. I just saw a post from someone with a very small shed for their hens. Would probably be a good size for 5 to 6 hens or so. They had 6 nesting boxes. Way too many for that many hens. Newbies probably. I would say one nesting box for 2 to 3 hens.

Elise

Friday 26th of August 2022

LindsayAnne, I got those ceramic eggs when I picked up my first 5 'day-old chicks'. (3 more safely added in next two weeks, you know, chicken math.) I put them in their freshly opened and prepped nests when some first started squatting.

Unbelievably, 'they' pecked a huge hole in one and completely disappeared the other!

Now, all but one is laying (in the nests!) and they are leaving alone the lost, lightly chipped one that I managed to find and put back in with some obvious trepidation. I switch it back and forth to keep them more comfortable in both. But the one with the pecked hole is sitting in my counter as a reminder of the power of the beak. I had at least one egg get eaten, but it is not recurring, so I think I lucked out there! Newbie ChickenTernder, Elise