Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Millihelen]

Please excuse me if this is a really silly question - we have only had our cube and 4 chickens for a week.

 

Where should the chickens be sleeping? My 4 all sleep in the nesting box which means it gets very pooey very quickly and has to be cleaned out every day. Meanwhile the roosting bars seem to be a rather extravagant entrance hall.

I read somewhere that putting a football in the nesting box would discourage them - so last night we ended up with two basketballs and a football in there... with 4 chickens perched on top. This morning all the poo had slid down into the corners and we had a nesting box and 3 balls to hose down!

 

Husband suggested putting tape across the opening for a few nights. Would this be a good idea? Does it matter where they sleep anyway?

We just want to get them into good habits (if such a thing is possible) and hopefully avoid pooey eggs!

 

Also - when they do start laying, how do they know where to lay anyway?

 

Would welcome any advice at all!

Thanks

[Jules.]

The extravagant entrance hall description tickled me

 

I have one hen, Rosa my Speckledy, who likes to sit down alot, & therefore very often she sleeps in the nest box. It doesn't bother me at all, a bit of poo now & then.

 

When I had my eglu there used to be battles to go to bed first so that the next box could be bagged.

 

You could try blocking off the nest box hole for a while to see if that will instill "good" sleeping habits for your girls, I don't think it would harm them as they are not laying yet.

 

As for will they know where to lay- I think they will. Hens like darker secluded places to lay their eggs, & the cube NB is ideal. Mine took to the cube NB after having been in an eglu with no bother at all.

[moochoo]

If you have or could buy the smallest tubtrug available the base of this fit perfectly into the porthole to the nestbox acting like a plug. As long as you can remove it before your first girl wants to lay you'll never have a problem with nest sleepers again!

[mrs chook]

I've found the smaller roosting bars (from near the entrance) fit over the nest box, either that or maybe a square of wood laid flat, obviously both would slope a bit.

 

Good luck! I'm getting fed up of being outwitted by my chooks too ! Ur post made me

[Millihelen]

Thanks for all your replies

 

We are going to try a simple piece of cardboard taped over the hole tonight and see what happens!

 

I'll let you know in the morning.....

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hello Millihelen, welcome to the forum .

 

I put a brick in our nestbox to discourage Molly (who's prone to broodiness ). OH takes it out when he lets them out in the morning.

[Mumpty]

so last night we ended up with two basketballs and a football in there... with 4 chickens perched on top. This morning all the poo had slid down into the corners and we had a nesting box and 3 balls to hose down!

[Egluntyne]

so last night we ended up with two basketballs and a football in there... with 4 chickens perched on top.

 

How funny.

 

Why not go out and place them on the roosting bars once they are drowsy. This worked for mine. It just took a couple of nights.

[Millihelen]

We found that the lid off our water butt covered the hole fairly well - held in place by a football in the nesting box. There was a lot of complaining at bedtime - but they survived!

 

We thought we would leave it there 3 nights - and then try without it.

 

I like the idea of moving them when they are drowsy - so might try that if we need to.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

We often find Molly in the nestbox at bedtime. We remove her and replace her with a brick .

[The Spencers]

Both of our girls try and sleep in the nesting box. We move them when we shut them up for the night and they seem to stay on the roosting bars. We've been doing that for three or four weeks now but still they sleep in the nesting box. It's a bit frustrating, but I'm not keen on putting anything in the nesting box as on occasion one of them has already laid before I let them out in the morning.

 

I don't think there's a problem with them sleeping in the NB. I'm just lazy and find it easier to clean out the tray!

[alih]

Likewise I got fed up with pooey eggs so pushed the offender ever so gently onto the bars once they were all in and stuck a flower pot in there. Works well. She is the one who lays early so each morning I take out the pot and a lovely clean egg, with no idea how she managed to drop it in there! They will learn.