- Mar 25, 2009
- 1,299
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I've got one idiot who finally started laying consistently at 9 months old -- consistently outside the coop, that is This being March in Ohio, that means her eggs are absolutely filthy.
So what do I do to stop this? She's the only one that hasn't caught on to the nest box and I'm worried that the others are going to pick up this habit. If she'd done it once I wouldn't worry, but she's done it three times now, laying the egg in the same spot each time. Clearly she likes that spot.
Here's the trouble, I think I'm already doing just about everything you're supposed to do to get them to lay in the box. The box is dark, it contains golf balls (and this morning, should have contained one other egg, since Bossy was due to lay at 8:00), it's far from the door and other "public" areas, and the others all get in there and sing.
Her "spot" is neither private nor dark. It is "under" something, but that's "under" is fairly open and really high traffic. I'm thinking of putting the water dish there tomorrow so she CAN'T lay there (unless she thinks she's a duck).
Is there anything I'm missing?
So what do I do to stop this? She's the only one that hasn't caught on to the nest box and I'm worried that the others are going to pick up this habit. If she'd done it once I wouldn't worry, but she's done it three times now, laying the egg in the same spot each time. Clearly she likes that spot.
Here's the trouble, I think I'm already doing just about everything you're supposed to do to get them to lay in the box. The box is dark, it contains golf balls (and this morning, should have contained one other egg, since Bossy was due to lay at 8:00), it's far from the door and other "public" areas, and the others all get in there and sing.
Her "spot" is neither private nor dark. It is "under" something, but that's "under" is fairly open and really high traffic. I'm thinking of putting the water dish there tomorrow so she CAN'T lay there (unless she thinks she's a duck).
Is there anything I'm missing?