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[bouldercroft]

Newbie question...

 

Should I be worried that one of my chickens (josie the little plymouth rock bantam with big attitude) is regularly sleeping in the nesting area?

Will her monopoly of the comfiest spot in the eglu go prohibit the other girls (RIR and Black Star) from laying their eggs there?

They are ~4weeks away from laying...

 

Also - should I be laying straw across the whole go area or just in the nesting box?

[MarkBevBen]

Hiya there

 

We're also new to chicken keeping as well

 

I've seen it mentioned on here that you could put a football into the nesting box to discourage them from sleeping in there overnight.

 

I noticed that Elsie, one of our two new girls was taking a liking to the nesting box, but the last few days she's started using the roosting bars

[BocBoc]

Nah - I wouldn't worry. Our girls seem to have a rota for sleeping in the nesting box and sometimes it stays empty with them snuggled up on the roosting bars.

 

We just put straw in the nesting box

 

Happy hen-keeping!!

[Chicken shack]

I asked the very same a few weeks ago. My 4 all sleep in the nesting box and it does get messy. The Consensus is that let them get on with it. I have heard of people blocking the entrance in the cube or in the and put a football in there at night. The only problem with doing this is that if you have a girl that lays before you get a chance to move the ball/barrier in the morning. I guess if you are an early riser it wouldn't be a problem. It is really up to you. I now just let them snuggle up in the nesting box.

[bucklamp]

We also have an Eglu Go. We put auboise in the nesting box only.

We are finding that one ours is laying before we open up at about 7am. This means we couldn't block that area off even if we wanted to ... which we don't .

[daxigirl]

The 3 big girls are all snuggling down in the nest box in the cube and the littlies are squishing into the nest box in the eglu. The littlies poop more than the big girls I have to say.

Edited October 21, 2010 by Guest

[sage]

I have 5 girls who all snuggle up in the nesting box of my cube, I just make sure I poo pick when I let them out in a morning.

 

Sage

[JPalmer]

I put a ball (purchased on Ebay)in mine at night. I checked on them one night and one was behind the ball and wall another was on the ball and the last was on edge of the nesting bowl. GRRRRR Maybe a bigger ball????

[Mercedes55]

We now have all 8 of our girls in the Cube at night and we have taken out the divider between the nest box and the roosting bars as our ex batts all like to sleep in the nest. Now a couple of the new girls are also getting into the nest so we can have 6 of them in there with the other 2 cuddling up to them just the other side of the nest. I do put a layer of rapport under the perches as I think it probably keeps the Cube warmer in the cold weather. I've also put an extra thick layer of rapport in the nest to keep them snug at night.

[bouldercroft]

thanks everyone for the replies - this is such a friendly board!

[Chicken shack]

We now have all 8 of our girls in the Cube at night and we have taken out the divider between the nest box and the roosting bars as our ex batts all like to sleep in the nest. Now a couple of the new girls are also getting into the nest so we can have 6 of them in there with the other 2 cuddling up to them just the other side of the nest. I do put a layer of rapport under the perches as I think it probably keeps the Cube warmer in the cold weather. I've also put an extra thick layer of rapport in the nest to keep them snug at night.

Sorry but what is rapport

[Mercedes55]

Sorry but what is rapport

 

It's like aubiose but is cheaper and we actually prefer it as it seems to be softer too. I think we paid about £6.50 for a huge bale and it lasts for ages

[percy049]

We give our chickens a cat litter tray full of straw when the weathers cold so they keep warm, but you do need to clean it out everyday!

[Shelle]

I have 3 girls who had taken to sleeping in the nest box and they made a terrible mess. I've recently started putting a ball in the nest box to try to get them out of this habbit. I put it in when I get home from work in the early evening, then take it out just before I go to bed. They're too sleepy to move into the next box by this point but they can still use it in the morning if they want to lay before I get up. Seems to be working so far...

[sage]

Well I thought it was about time I put my foot down on a night. 4 in the nesting box one roost half in half out and poor Mavis is left out on her own. Last night I put 2 footballs in the nesting box. Had 4 ladies sleeping under footballs

Tonight I got a large bit of cardboard quite thick and 10 mins before they went to bed I covered the hole. Just been out to close the door and the cheeky little bu**ers have pecked a hole in the card

4 of them asleep in the nesting box

OK they win I give up.

 

Sage