Advice please - unusual pullet behaviour

[Ted Brown]

Isa Browns are known to have this bad habit, they sleep in the nesting boxes and lay eggs outside, that is why I don't keep them. But any moulting hen tends to sleep in the nesting box.

Thanks for the reply. This has not been our experience.

With only three exceptions of a single pullet our seven ISAs sleep on the roosts since we taught them what it was for last fall. We did have issues with laying in a back corner on the floor after using our first nest box for a couple of months. I replaced that nest box with another based on aart's design (major difference being it is much more enclosed having a front with 10" round holes, four in a row). I also closed off access to the back corner completely, the ISAs now lay only in the nest boxes.

So far no sign of any moulting but we have yet to go through that experience.

Our ISAs are excellent layers giving us large eggs consistently since we have had them, we have averaged 6.54 eggs per day from 7 layers since they started last October. I do not heat the coop nor do we add any light other than what the day itself provides. I attribute at least some of the credit to the Woods KD Fresh Air Coop that we built but also are most pleased with the breed, will continue to keep them and replace the seven we have as needed. I will be adding White Chanteclers via incubation in the April time frame; we have decided not to bring live birds into our flock for bio-security reasons.

 

[aart]

Isa Browns are known to have this bad habit, they sleep in the nesting boxes and lay eggs outside, that is why I don't keep them. But any moulting hen tends to sleep in the nesting box.

Ehhh....pretty unrealistic to make such general conclusions about one breed.

 

[aart]

On Simone she did find an raw red patch of broken skin in two locations totaling a "circle" perhaps 1/4" in size near the vent. No sign of tears or oozing blood etc. She has applied polysporin and will continue to do so daily for the next bit.

Hard to say what this might be. Feathers missing from the area?

Simone is one of our more assertive, we have seen her pull feathers out of another pullet.

Maybe someone bit her back(end)?

 

[Naser]

Ehhh....pretty unrealistic to make such general conclusions about one breed.

Political correctness?.

 

[Ted Brown]

Political correctness?.

No.

 

[Naser]

No.

I wasn't referring to your post Ted, What you said is absolutely understandable, I regret I can't keep Isa Brown hens as they are excellent layers in their first year or two, but the ones I got were headache.

 

[aart]

Political correctness?.

@Naser Not sure what you mean by this?