Australorps breed Thread

[Jmay402]

golf balls worked fine for me. I just leave them in there.

 

[duluthralphie]

I use the ceramic fake ones. I use white eggs in brown layer nest and I mark a red line on them in 4 places.

I tried the golf balls but they just did not look right to me. I like to think my chickens are smart enough to tell and egg from a golf ball.

I tried the plastic ones but they always kicked them out of the nest.

 

[astarra]

Thank you all for your suggestions - as I said, we did already have the fake eggs in there.
anyhow, to cut a long story short, we were still having no luck, so on Saturday we made them a totally new nest box set out of an old bedside cabinet, the girls checked it out thoroughly, laid on the coop floor again yesterday, but today....IN!!!!

Now for the next problem .... the egg was slightly cracked as she made herself a nest which left her the bare wood to lay on with the straw all around - any help appreciated in how to remedy this.

 

[appps]

Thank you all for your suggestions - as I said, we did already have the fake eggs in there.
anyhow, to cut a long story short, we were still having no luck, so on Saturday we made them a totally new nest box set out of an old bedside cabinet, the girls checked it out thoroughly, laid on the coop floor again yesterday, but today....IN!!!!

Now for the next problem .... the egg was slightly cracked as she made herself a nest which left her the bare wood to lay on with the straw all around - any help appreciated in how to remedy this.

I've got a little off cut of marine carpet in the bottom of mine, then it's not hard underneath the straw but if I need to hose it off I can.

 

[appps]

  I like to think my chickens are smart enough to tell and egg from a golf ball.

Mine aren't even smart enough to tell thin air from an egg sigh. My broody regularly tries to hatch the straw and nothing else

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

Straw or pine chips usually works for me, but I also pad the bottom of the nest box with rubber mats that i picked up cheap somewhere. Don't overthink this. They are young and will eventually figure this out. Make sure your roosts are higher than the nest boxes. My nest boxes are only 12 to 18 inches off the floor. If they don't figure it out in a few months then don't breed them. Removing them from the gene pool would be smart, sometime xxxx happens.
Kurt

 

[astarra]

And... at 3pm here.....we have another egg laid in the nest box!!!!

I am so pleased!!!

 

[hellbender]

Thank you all for your suggestions - as I said, we did already have the fake eggs in there.
anyhow, to cut a long story short, we were still having no luck, so on Saturday we made them a totally new nest box set out of an old bedside cabinet, the girls checked it out thoroughly, laid on the coop floor again yesterday, but today....IN!!!!

Now for the next problem .... the egg was slightly cracked as she made herself a nest which left her the bare wood to lay on with the straw all around - any help appreciated in how to remedy this.

All of our nest boxes are the same size and we have cut a piece of mining-belt (made of 5/8ths inch reinforced rubber) to fit every nest. The breeds we have lay very hard shells but the rubber in the bottom gives a bit of extra protection.

 

[bruceha2000]

Mine aren't even smart enough to tell thin air from an egg sigh. My broody regularly tries to hatch the straw and nothing else

Been there, done that. 4 of my 4 Y/O hens go broody several times a year. They are well acquainted with the inside of the broody buster.

Thank you all for your suggestions - as I said, we did already have the fake eggs in there.
anyhow, to cut a long story short, we were still having no luck, so on Saturday we made them a totally new nest box set out of an old bedside cabinet, the girls checked it out thoroughly, laid on the coop floor again yesterday, but today....IN!!!!

Now for the next problem .... the egg was slightly cracked as she made herself a nest which left her the bare wood to lay on with the straw all around - any help appreciated in how to remedy this.

My nest boxes are deep, the "lip" on the front is probably 5" high and there are at least 3" of shavings in them. I've not had any of the girls dig all the way down to the bottom. In fact, if I fluff up the shavings and make a "bowl" in the middle and put the weighted plastic egg in it, the shavings have been pretty well smoothed out when I come back to collect.

 

[astarra]

They seem to have it sorted now
This is Mint just before she laid yesterday!