nesting box drama

Hi. I've noticed quite a few problems with my chickens lately. I'm wondering if all might be related in some way!

Some background: I have 7 birds; I thought I had 1 rooster and 6 hens, but one has recently shown itself to be a rooster (go ahead and laugh, but he sits in the nesting boxes and has never crowed or shown any interest in hens).

I have 6 nesting boxes. The flock has a good supply of water and food and a fenced in run with grass and lots of dirt and gravel.

Here is what I've been noticing:

1. The hens seem to all use one particular nesting box.

2. Two of the other boxes get pooped in all the time, and the rest go completely unused.

3. I have used straw, hay and shavings for bedding, butno matter what the hens kick out all the bedding regularly. So I'm getting a lot of cracked and broken eggs.

4. Egg production has gone down. I get about 2 eggs a day from 5 hens. And these are the longest days of the year!

Any suggestons would be appreciated!

ambrosegirl84 said:

Hi. I've noticed quite a few problems with my chickens lately. I'm wondering if all might be related in some way!

Some background: I have 7 birds; I thought I had 1 rooster and 6 hens, but one has recently shown itself to be a rooster (go ahead and laugh, but he sits in the nesting boxes and has never crowed or shown any interest in hens).

I have 6 nesting boxes. The flock has a good supply of water and food and a fenced in run with grass and lots of dirt and gravel.

Here is what I've been noticing:

1. The hens seem to all use one particular nesting box.

2. Two of the other boxes get pooped in all the time, and the rest go completely unused.

3. I have used straw, hay and shavings for bedding, butno matter what the hens kick out all the bedding regularly. So I'm getting a lot of cracked and broken eggs.

4. Egg production has gone down. I get about 2 eggs a day from 5 hens. And these are the longest days of the year!

Any suggestons would be appreciated!

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1 - this is completely normal - the favorite box can be the same or change from time to time, but the key is that once one bird has laid her egg in a particular spot, that indicates to the next birds that the nest is a safe place to lay . This is why using "bait" (fake eggs, golf balls, etc.) is helpful in teaching birds to use nest boxes, because the bait eggs make it seem another hen has already laid an egg in the box that has been baited.

2 - fouled boxes are a sign that your nests are being used for things other than just the place to go when they are ready to lay - it is generally an indication that birds are using the nests for sleeping rather than going to roost. As you have seen, the result is a poopy nest box and that is not something you want. You will need to work to re-train the birds that the nests are only for laying.

3 - can you describe, or better still show photos of, your nests? If bedding is being kicked out you likely need to rethink the structure. Changing the "face" of the box with the addition of a deeper lip and/or using more of face plate with a cut out for entry will prevent the removal of your nesting materiel.

4 - there are many things that may be factoring into your loss of production - how old are the birds, what is their diet, how much space are they in, what was the previous production level and how long had they been laying at that rate/how long has it been since it dropped, do the birds free range at all, how much attention are the girls getting from the now two boys?

Thanks for the suggestions! I will try putting golf balls in and see if that helps. A good chunk of my eggs are actually broken, and u think it might have to do with the bedding issue.

I also found homes for both roosters. A couple hens show signs of being pecked on, so it could be from the rooster or each other if they're under stress, right? They have quite a large run with grass, gravel and dirt to swim around in, ample shade as well. I think it's well over 200 square feet for 7 birds, plus the coop.

Iwill see if I can rig up some kind of a front for the boxes so they don't keep locking out the bedding, too!

How big is your coop(feet by feet) and how big are your nests(inches by inches)?

The lack of bedding could be the reason for the broken eggs.

Have your birds juts started laying?
Are the broken shells hard and thick or thin and fragile?
Are the broken eggs being eaten?

I think the coop is probably about 5 by 10. The hens are 1 and 2 years old. The eggs have strong shells. I feed them layena and food scraps and they have access to grass, dirt and gravel. I haven't noticed eggs being eaten; maybe once or twice!