[magicfairy]

We have 4 orpington hens which are about 25 weeks old.  Big Mama and Fluff have been pretty much laying since we got them at 18 weeks, but R2D2 and Eggbert have yet to produce an egg.

However the other night I went to shut them up, a bit later than normal and I saw a smashed up egg in the run, so I picked it out and the shell was really thin and there was yolk all over the place.  The other 2 had laid that day aswell, so we thought one of the others must be starting to lay but hasn't worked out where the nests are.

Then today (2 days later) I noticed R2D2 sitting in the run like she was on a nest, but I was in the middle of doing something so didn't investigate further until a bit later.  When I saw another mashed up egg, but it wasn't in the run, it was behind in a place only the chooks can get.  The shell looked softish (not like the other one though) and the egg all seemed to be there, so I don't think they are eating it, yet.

They have an enclosed run that opens out into a penned off area, lots of space and lots of trees and dark little corners where I would have thought they would lay if not in a nest, but she seems to be prefering the run, right in the middle where it gets trodden  on!

How can I convince her to lay in a nest?

[Colernehens]

We have 6 Orpingtons and 2 of our did this about a month ago when they started laying.
 
One of them would follow one of the older ones into the hen house, sit there with her and then come out and lay the egg on the grass. This happened about 3 times with each of the new girls, I just think they had no idea they were laying an egg. But they now lay in the right place everyday, they worked it out all by themselves.

We are no expert though, so someone else might be able to offer you a answer, but in our limited experience, they get it on their own in the end. 

Good luck
 

[joyfull]

place a pot/rubber/plastic egg in the nest box (if you don't have 1 of those then a golf ball will do) - this will show them where to lay. When they are new to laying they do get took short and can lay the odd soft shelled egg but this will improve over the next couple of weeks