Earning her keep

[tcal]

One of the girls just started laying today! Small, oblong and in a different nest. Out of my 7 hens I've been getting 4 a day, today I got 5! YEA!

I have one though that (I watched her one day) stands up before laying and dropping the egg which sometimes cracks it. She's just seems to be in a hurry to get it out and get down. I put extra hay in there but she scratches it back. Dunno.

 

[swtangel321]

CONGRATS on the new egg !!!!

WAY TO GO HEN

 

[gritsar]

Congrats! I know I was extremely proud the first time my girls were able to "buy" their own bag of feed and scratch.
A few of my girls, especially when they first started laying, stand up to finish laying the egg. I keep a ton of a hay in the nest and their shells are good and hard from all the calcium they get so I haven't had a problem with cracked eggs.
You might try packing the hay in the box good and tight and then create a nest in the center of the pile by seperating the hay with your hands. When I do this it still leaves an inch or so of hay on the bottom to cushion the egg when it falls.

 

[crazyhen]

I took some foam off an old mattress pad and layed it in the bottom of the nest and then put my shavings on it. That was cheap and affective. jean

 

[tcal]

Great idea jean! thanks