Elderly cat breathing difficulties when purring

[EmmaLafferty]

My 3 ladies have started to poo in the nesting box of their eglu. We put straw in the nesting box. Can anyone help me to deter them from doing this?

 

[chelsea]

do they sleep in there at night?

 

If they do you might want to block it off by placing a football or an upturned plantpot in the nest box.

 

My maran loves to sleep in the nestbox so we just leave her to it and pick out the poo!

[Hendy]

One of mine likes to sleep in the nesting area. I just clean out the poo every couple of days. It doesn't seem to get on the eggs anyway thankfully. The football sounds like a good idea though.

[crazygal]

One of mine ALWAYS sleeps in the nest box

 

When I let them out in the morning I flick the poo out of the straw onto the roosting bars down onto the droppings tray, so the rest of the eggs that day don't get muck on them.

 

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a soft touch- I allow Miranda to sleep in the nest box seeing as she likes it!

[ChrisP]

Two of mine insist on sleeping there, regardless of what we do to try and deter them

 

Only thing I can suggest is the football thing, which already has been suggested.

Sorry

[atsw]

One of ours (Fifi) tends to roost standing on the edge of the nesting box. If she would just face towards the front of the Eglu the poo would drop down through the bars behind her, but no, she always faces towards the back, with the result that her poo goes straight into the nest box .

 

Like crazygal, when I let them out in the morning I flick the poo out of the straw onto the roosting bars and down onto the droppings tray.

 

Hey ho, the joys of chicken keeping .

 

Andrew

[DW]

In order to keep my hens in the designated sleeping area (i.e. NOT in the nestbox!) I've wedged a 'fence' of weldmesh between the roosting bars and the nest box. It goes all along the side that faces the back of the eglu, and a couple of inches along the side that faces the small set of roosting bars, so that my hens can still get in to lay. I have put a couple of layers of electrical insulation tape along the cut end of the weldmesh so that it's not sharp.

 

Before dusk, I then put a swingball bat (easier to handle than a football!) in the nest, so that the hens roost on the bars. I then remove it before I go to bed, so that the nest is accessible for any early morning egg laying...Amazingly enough, the hens don't seem to notice that I've removed the bat and therefore don't try and sneak back in to the nestbox to sleep!