KarenS, I agree - you showed a lot of restraint for what sounds like a very frustrating day. When I had my Coturnix, I used to put DE in a shallow plastic tray and put it out for them. They lost no time racing to be the first one to start bathing in it. I was always astonished how many of them managed to fit in that tray at one time - way more than you would guess a tray could hold
That reminds me....I should put some out for the Silkies - I'm sure they'd enjoy dustbathing in it too.
Well, I have a question for all you more experienced chicken folks. I have a hen who is having a mishap in her egg-laying factory. I doubt if there is anything I need to do for her (although if there is, please let me know) but mostly I'm curious if anyone else has experienced something like this. Okay, here's the situation: She is a Cuckoo Marans, hatchery quality. I got her from Atwoods during Chick Days last year and they get them from Ideal. Until last Spring, ALL of my chickens laid a light-brown egg - so similar in color that I never knew for sure who was laying. I decided to try to get some hens that lay some different colored eggs because I like to know who is laying and who isn't. So I got some BCM eggs online and hatched a single chick (luckily turned out to be a girl) and so she wouldn't be alone, I went to Atwoods and got her two companions - the Cuckoo Marans and a Sultan. So...skip forward 6 months and both Marans started laying. There was an obvious difference in their eggs from the very first one. The BCM lays eggs that probably qualify on the Marans scale - very dark brown, and speckled. Super pretty eggs. The Cuckoo eggs are a darker brown than any of my other hens lay but not nearly as dark as the BCM. I liked that they were both so easily distinguishable so I knew for sure what days they each laid. So far so good.
So the Cuckoo laid for about 2 months and then our so-called winter started, and she quit. For a good two months I got nothing from her which was a little disappointing since she was a new pullet laying but que sera sera. In February she resumed laying - sort of. Both the two months she laid in the Fall and in the 6 weeks or so since she resumed, her laying was sporadic at best. She might lay 2 days and then take 3-4 off. Or lay 1 every other day for a week. In addition, its almost like she can't tell the difference between an egg and a poop because none of her eggs has been found in a nest box. All of her eggs have been found in one of 3 places - the middle of the coop floor, the roof of the coop, or next to the deck stairs.
We're getting to it, I promise. On Saturday morning I had to run out to the coop at 8am to check my humane mouse trap. There was one light brown egg in the nest box already so I brought it in. At 11am, I wandered back out there and found a Cuckoo egg in the middle of the coop floor. And another egg on the roost, and a third egg on the coop floor about 2' from the first. None of these eggs was there during my 8am visit. Strange, I say, and gather them up to carry them inside. Once inside, I did a double take - they were all quite clearly Cuckoo eggs. Exact same size, shape and color - so identical you couldn't tell one from another. At 1pm, I went back out there and next to the deck stairs - another Cuckoo egg. So I'm telling myself its impossible at the same time I am 100% convinced the same hen laid all four eggs.
Sunday I go to collect eggs and find 1 Cuckoo egg in the middle of the coop floor and one next to the deck stairs.
She laid an egg a day on Thursday and Friday. So now the total count is 1 Thur, 1 Fri, 4 Sat & 2 Sun. I showed them to the family, begging them to tell me the eggs were NOT all the same color, size and shape but they agreed - these eggs were all clearly laid by the same hen. I know I didn't miss them from previous days - where they were lying it would have been all but impossible for them to have lain there since early last week without being seen.
So I am left with the conclusion that this hen's egg factory has gone wacko and don't know if there's something I need to watch for or do for her. Has anyone had a similar experience?
My little dog does a good job of scaring anyone sitting on the rim back into the box. She's a little wiener mutt we never let have pups so she tends to think everything smaller than her is her baby, including the chicks. She is very gentle, but they do NOT appreciate her giving them a "bath" so they take off for the box when they see her coming.
When my chicks were only 4 weeks, they were catching moths that were attracted to their heat lamp at night. They would grab a moth, go run around in their brooder and the others would make a mad dash to steal it from them. More often than not, the silkies would end up with the moth since they are such fiesty birds. 
