northernexiled Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 Grrrrr the change in hours seems to have totally messed up my chickens routine and with messy results .................here we go With the dark morning they wont come out of the eglu till it's light and whitestar has to be first on the nest (bossy I know) unfortunately whilst the others come out and do there usual huge first poo she does it in the nest The other chicks then refuse to use pooey straw and strut up and down till I clean it up - easy at the mo but I will have to get to work when the clocks change!!! I found it really strange that in summer they all laid later each day and eventually missed a day and now it has to be first thing - could it be too little time to eat so I have to lay early Anyone else had major changes??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budgies Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 We're finding that Mango has frequently laid before first light and we've had one or two pooey eggs as a result! As we've only had the girls since Spring, I don't know whether they will just naturally adjust and begin to lay later as winter approaches. I don't have anything in my nesting box because lovely Chutney was allergic to the straw (made her sneeze loads, poor thing!) so the girls lay in an otherwise empty nesting box. I usually just wipe it round with a damp bit of kitchen roll and all's well. I think someone else once mentioned that their chooks were pooping in the nesting box overnight, so they lined the box with a sheet of crumpled newspaper which could simply be removed once soiled - might be worth a try. Good luck Sue budgie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kannie Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 Yes Matilda's laying earlier than she used to. I've found that a pooey nest is usually caused by Maisy sleeping in the nesting box, which she does when she gets cold. So closing the door at night means (touch wood) no pooey eggs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 We have had a couple of lays on the roosting bars,as my Whitestar always sleeps in the nesting box. One thing I have found is that if you use Aubiose in the nest box,its really easy to pick the poos out,& it tends to stay pretty fresh for a couple of days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernexiled Posted October 7, 2006 Author Share Posted October 7, 2006 We have had a couple of lays on the roosting bars,as my Whitestar always sleeps in the nesting box. And is your whitestar the boss chicken too - mine bosses all the others to go in at night - i'm sure its so she can them move them so she can have her spot Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 No, my Whitestar is actually at the bottom of the pecking order,so she is made to sit in the nest box by the others They also won't go up to be until she has,they give her the gimlet eye until she toddles off, then follow one by one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
