Unsecure chicken perches

[brambles]

Argh! They're driving me barmy today!

 

Lovely huge cube, but being girls, they've all 'synced' and need to lay at the same time. 4 of them wanting to use the large laying area. Will they share? no.

 

The speckledy is in place - she likes to take an hour or two to lay. Plenty of room for the legbar and the cochin. The jasmine is content to wait it out.

 

After a half hour of honking, I retrieved dh's nest box divider from the shed and installed it. Having looked at it as if it was an alien attack, the speckledy and the legbar are now crammed into one side of it. The cochin is looking daggers at the empty side and I'm fully expecting a hen pile up.

 

It is heaving it down out there. There is now another massive amount of honking which could, I think, be the legbar's egg announcement that she's laid and the speckledy's nicked it. I really don't want to have to go down two flights of stairs to calm her down, but it's been going on about 10 mins now and I'm concerned the neighbours will run out of patience!

 

I've three new ladies to merge, taking the flock to 7 and am very concerned that the nestbox availability won't cut it. The run is huge, very extended and with a mezzanine and they have a safe free ranging area giving them plenty of room all day too.

 

How can I create more nesting area?

[Snowy]

Bless them! Take away that and they would find something new to moan about!

 

What about a couple of empty biscuit tins lined with straw/aubiose sat on the roosting bars through peak periods? (they would probably all still try to go in the nest box though)

[brambles]

Yes I'm wondering about the biscuit factor! I'll give it a try - also will put a covered catbox with a false front door with pop hole into the run somewhere - I'd guarantee that they'll all still try to shove into the left hand corner of the nest box though.

 

Wondering if omlet are ever considering putting a double nestbox onto a cube, like those big wooden houses which have a nestbox on either side. The door could go in the middle and be operated the same way. Sigh.

[jimnpaula]

Mine like to use only the left side too, and the number of times I've said I'll make/get someone else to make a divider

 

P

[chickyhazel]

Ours always seem to lay on the same side, but they are quite good at waiting for each other normally.

[meezers]

I doubt it would make a difference if you had 10 nest boxes. I have a home made coop with 2 nestboxes, they all queue up for their favourite side ( which changes weekly ) and pile in one on top the other if they can't wait.

A plastic washing up bowl makes a good temp nestbox and is easy to clean ( you might even get one to match your cube )

[brambles]

Good plan meezers - erm, whereabouts is best? In the cube next to existing nesty place?

[Space Chick]

In the cube is the best option, to one side, just remember to remove it at night.

 

I have 15 girls (13 of which are laying - 1 retired, 1 forgotten she's a chicken ), I had put another Eglu in the WIR for laying/sleeping, put a box in the cube for an extra nest box in the day, tried a cat tent, etc etc. They still all insist in laying/sleeping in the cube, so I have given up

 

My girls will share the nest box though (apart from Ace one of my ex batts, she frog marches anyone out who tries to share ), I have seen 6 as a maximum in there before now

[brambles]

I think Ace has been training the legbar and the cochin.

 

Half of the noise yesterday was because when my girls lay they like to sit on their eggs for a bit before wandering off. The speckledy prefers to roll the eggs under her and sit on them - especially if they're someone else's. Speckledy was on top egg stealing form yesterday!

[migsy]

Mine all like to lay around the same time too. I have an eglu with 3 girls in it. Yesterday I could see that Beakers, the Black Rock was getting very agitated and hanging around the eglu door and the other 2 were inside. When I went to collect the eggs she had laid on the roosting bars, poor thing! I tried a cat box once but they didn't seem to see it. They are creatures of habit but amusing with it.