$%&# chicken laying in the mud

[Uzuri]

Never say "Oh, she won't lay again today."

She did.

I know what I'm going to do now. THEY aren't going on lockdown; SHE is. Tomorrow evening I'm taking the crimps and some wire I have left from building the run and I'm going to build a little cage. This little cage will be inside the coop and encompass part of the nesting box (it's one big one) and enough room outside it for her to move around a bit and stretch and eat. First thing in the morning she goes into the little cage along with food and water. When I get home from work I let her out to mingle with the others for a while and then to roost. Next day we start over.

Maybe after a week of sitting next to a screaming Bossy and the other 'dotte she'll get the point but I'll be darned if the good girls are going to miss these nice days we're having just because SHE's being bad. Sounds too much like Junior High to me XD Hopefully I'll be able to avoid the issues that come with cooping up everyone and still point her in the right direction.

 

[spamee34]

I have one hen that refuses to use the boxes she lays hers right on the floor of the coop RIGHT IN THE POOP FROM THE ROOSTS!!!! She acts as if she has no nest to lay in so she lays on the floor. It has been so nasty from the rain I havn't cleaned their coop out this week so the chit is so thick on the floor I hate to pick up the egg ewwwewww. Well at least it's not as bad as my ducks they put their eggs in the mud holes . I have barrel's for them to lay in under the coop but no they must lay them in the mud holes they have made right in front of the waterers. I will never be able to hatch their eggs if they don't stop this . My wyondott's have a dust hole they made for dust batheing in and it fills with water when it rains and low and behold the darn ducks will have an egg in it grrrr . I have put golf balls in their nests and they still lay them in the mud they have only been laying a month so maybe as they get older they will GET THE POINT!!!!

 

[Uzuri]

I just *had* to update this, because what she did yesterday was pretty funny.

I built the little cage that I mentioned before. It's not huge, but the idea is to keep her near the nestbox so she can see what she's supposed to be doing. She can turn around OK, and eat and drink, and she can go into the box herself, should she need to.

So my others weren't at all bothered by the cage or the chicken in the cage* and went happily into the box and laid me three eggs Saturday (when the cage was just empty to get them all used to it) and two eggs yesterday.

My problem hen watched all this with interested, then, when it came time for her to lay, overturned her water, made a nasty mush of sawdust, water, and chicken crap in the bottom of the cage and laid her egg right in the middle of it.

I think she was dropped on her head as a chick.

...

Today she has a waterer that she can't overturn, and despite the fact that I got yet another dirty wet egg yesterday when she wasn't supposed to be able to find any mud, I still thought it was pretty funny XD





*So I lie, a little. They were thoroughly honked off first thing in the morning because they thought she was getting special privileges. They eventually forgot, though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Whether you have a rooster or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether a hen goes broody or not. It just has something to do with whether the eggs are fertile or not.

I think you are on the right track with getting her to lay in the nest. With living things nothing is ever guaranteed, but if you are going to keep her, it is worth the effort. Are you sure she is not part duck?

I have had some that liked to lay on the floor of the coop and not in the nest boxes. The first one was probably my fault. She started laying in a corner behind the door swing at 18 weeks and I did not have the nest boxes open. The other, I don't know why she started laying there, but each one's egg was always in the same spot every day, just different spots for each. In both cases, when I caught them on the floor laying, I locked them in the nest for about a half hour, until they laid the egg, then I let them out. It only took one time with the first one and twice with the second. With you working, I know you cannot use this approach except maybe on the week end. Hopefully this will help somebody.

 

[Uzuri]

Quote:
Yeah, I knew that actually. I know my response before kinda implied that I didn't.

Quote:
I'm starting to wonder...

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've seen enough of your posts to figure YOU did but I hate to leave that type of mis-information out there unchallenged for the benefit of others that read these posts and then say, Oh, I saw that on the BYC forum so it has to be correct. But then, I thought Bantimna knew that too.

 

[Uzuri]

Heheh, yeah, I figured it was something like that. I'm the same way the pendulum sexing posts XD

 

[Uzuri]

So I just thought I'd update on this for other people who might be dealing with it.

I left her contained in a small area with access to the nest box for one week. I believe she laid three eggs in that time.

The first day out she laid outside again, but in the week since that all the eggs have been inside. She still won't lay in the next box, but at least she's inside, and she's picked a generally clean spot (where they like to dust bathe).

So it seems to have worked. Let's hope it sticks.