Another chook question!!

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by bloodychooks, May 1, 2007.

  1. bloodychooks

    bloodychooks Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2007
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Things seemed to be going along great guns. One of our hens has started laying and we are still waiting on the other two.

    Everything was great. She made herself at home in one of the nesting boxes and layed most of her eggs in there, but for the past three days, she's decided to lay her eggs whilst being on the perch... with a 2 foot drop under her :oops: so her eggs are breaking :(

    Any ideas how we can encourage her back into the nesting boxes? Not sure why she moved as nothing has changed in there!!

    Bloody chooks :lol:
     
  2. Muddy

    Muddy Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2007
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Hello,
    I am sure you will get inundated with different reasons and remedies for this problem. Here are a couple of ideas to start with.
    1. Your hens are just starting to lay and in a steep learning curve. If they lay in the nest box and you take away the egg each time they may decide that is not a safe place to leave an egg. Solution leave a golf ball in the box. They won't know the difference.
    2. Something in the nest box might be putting them off. Look for mites or try changing the nesting material. (I like dry grass)
    3. Try changing the height of the nest box. I have found my chooks prefer the nest box higher than the perches.
    Good luck, Willow.
     
  3. sammiiz

    sammiiz Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2007
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Bloody chooks indeed right?
    gotta love... most of the time :? :D

    Muddy has said it well...
    The chooks are just learning this business of popping out eggs, yes its natural, but still, its new to them.
    Golf balls in the nest are a good encouragement that says 'this is where your eggs should be'... i have found if you just leave todays eggs in until tomorrow, ie you don't take them out until the day after they have layed, or until the next egg is layed, so that there is always an egg in there.
    This too, stops the chooks getting a bit annoyed that all their newly found hard work is taken away straight away.
    Some say you shouldn't do this, in case of broodiness, but i haven't had a problem with that, not with new layers.
    Um, i presume they are roost laying at night?
    coz if its during the day i would say you could somehow block them from the roost until night time.

    They are going to take a while to get the nack of things... but some gentle persuasion, some understanding, and (god help us) patience, should see them through.

    If all else fails, you may need to cut the offenders off from the roost for a while, even if they start sleeping in boxes (this is another anoying habit, but can be broken later) to encourage it... but only as a last resort.

    Oh and be careful, making a nesting box higher than a perch... they'll start roosting in the nest boxes :? :-x

    Good luck. :D


    when is laying on roost
    careful higher than roost
     
  4. ejanea

    ejanea Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2005
    Messages:
    42
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I think they need some artificial eggs too (golf balls or those plastic ones that you can put lollies in for kids at easter) so that they know where to lay them safely.
    I've had chooks that lay eggs "accidently" around the yard when they're young, but they seem to get it together later.

    My chooks are spending more time roosting lately... probably because it's colder and darker some days.

    I find that egg production always increases when the day length is actually changing in the "increase" direction.
     

Share This Page

-->