Sooo much pooping

[Eggie232]

All three of gorgeous ex-batts have decided they prefer sleeping in the eggport of my cube rather than on the roosting bars. I dont blame them to be honest, if I had been forced to sleep on wire for the last 18 months I'd certainly opt for lovely soft straw! It doesn't cause me any problems them doing this but my concern is that perhaps they would be better on the roosting bars as that is their natural roosting behaviour. Is this a problem I need to address or shall I just let them sleep where they prefer? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!

[Jools]

Yes you should stop them. They poo a lot in the night and if they use the roosting bars, it falls through so they don't get caked in it. Poo covered eggs aren't nice either!

[Mercedes55]

I do agree that they should be discouraged from sleeping in the eggport, but not sure how you can stop it. I have an Eglu and the perches are right next to the eggport, so once my hens are in for the night I have no idea where they sleep. In fact as I have 4 of them in an Eglu it wouldn't surprise me if one of ex batts is sleeping in the nest. Right now it isn't worrying me as one of mine has a limp and spends a lot of time in the nest, I just make sure I keep it clean. I don't think mine lay until late morning and then again early afternoon and I've not had any poo on the eggs so far.

 

How long have you had your ex batts and have they been doing this right from the start

[Jools]

You can retrain them by lifting them out of the nest box and putting them onto the perch. It may take some time though! If all else fails, block off the nest box so they can't sleep in there.

[Lavenders_Blue]

It's up to you whether or not it bothers you really. It certainly won't do them any harm to sleep in the nesting box (some of my ex-batts still do 9 months on after rescue) but you may prefer to encourage them to perch at night to make cleaning easier.

 

Don't forget they have never had to perch before as in the battery cage they would have just had to go to sleep where they were. A couple of mine have worked out for themselves that perching is quite nice and they have given up nest box sleeping, but the others still prefer bunking down in the woodshavings.

 

I decided that after a horrible year as a battery hen I would let them can sleep wherever they choose, but... I will admit that poo picking the next box on a daily basis does get a bit tedious!

[jimnpaula]

My batts started by sleeping in the nestbox, when they got a bit stronger I started encouraging them to stay on the roosting bars by going out at dusk and moving any out of the nest. Nowadays many of them prefer to sleep on the mezzanine outside the cube!

 

P

[Mercedes55]

There are a lot of people on other hen forums who let their hens sleep in the nest boxes and they don't think the poo is an issue. I've often noticed bits of dried on poo when I've bought eggs at the supermarket

[docsquid]

Mine sleep in the nest box. I pick the poo every day and they seem to be able to aim the eggs away from the poo! I also give them bokashi bran in their feed, and this, plus the hemcore, keeps the poo dry. Overall, it isn't worth the grief to keep them out.

 

The only time they slept on the roosting bars was in the winter when I put a heat pad in the poo tray to keep them warm - they all slept round the heat pad then!

[henriette]

I finally trained mine to sleep on the perches by moving them out of the nest box and putting up a shelf from an old fridge. It is strong enough to discourage them but light enough for an earnest early egg layer to push over so that she can get through.

I must say I used to have messy eggs and didn't really like that.

It really is what you feel happiest with I think

[Troy]

2 of mine sleep in the nest box; our black Pekin and Hybrid Phyllis. At first it did bother me and I tried the flowerpot/football to close the hole, but these 2 have known each other since Phyllis was 9 wks and Molly was 6mos old and we've had them 3 years now. I feel that they have now earned themselves the rights of passage and let them sleep in the comfort of the box! In the winter they always cuddle up together. Mollys a posh Pekin and doesnt do roosting bars Phyll has served us sooooo well...she will ALWAYS have a place in my box!

We are always down there and cleaning the cube by 7-7.30 am so there is never really a dirty egg in there.

troy

[Eggie232]

Thanks for the advice everyone, it's been really helpful and reasurring to hear that lots of you have experienced this too. As long as it poses no threat to their health or wellbeing, I'll probably just let my ladies continue choosing where they sleep (for now at least). I like to run a tidy ship and always muck out before I go to work so I've not had any problems with pooey eggs as yet. I do like to think that they choose the place they feel is most comfortable to sleep, having had such a rough time they deserve that freedom really I spose.