Esther and Winnie~ Emerald ~ Momma Time~ UH-OH Egg Overload P46

[thndrdancr]

How bout an update now and pics later then?

Fussy is doing weird stuff too, read "chaos in the kitchen", posted earlier this morn! I think it was this morn, heck this time change has me all messed up.

 

[barg]

Quote:
Esther and Winnie~ The Stand Off~ShowDown At the Leggo Corral p42

Today Emerald did it again.
She went in the nest box in the morning and when I opened the door to check on her, she made that squeely noise at me like" shut that dam door"
Later in the day Domineak decided it was time to lay and the showdown was on once again.
They were like this for over an hour and were still that way when I left the house for a while. At one point Domineak was trying to fit herself into the box with Emerald still in there, but the fit is a bit too snug.

When I got back home, I had found that Domineak had won out again and forced Emerald out of the box.


When they see me they tend to ignore each other to get to me and at times, it almost looks like they are pals, doesn't it. (This is a nice pic of the two most "people friendly" chickens I have, Hazel and Esther.. Its too bad Hazel, at 29 weeks, doesn't lay eggs yet

Here the girls at 21 weeks old, It looks like maybe Winnies comb is starting do something... maybe

 

[thndrdancr]

How many nestboxes do you have, anyhow? My sis says I need to put one more in, each chicken needs one. Mine is huge tho, they could both lay in there if they absolutely had to. I think I made it about 18 by 20 inches, just becuz thats how big the desk drawer size was, so just modified.

 

[barg]

Quote:
There are two nest boxes, the second one is directly below the one in the pic, but they all refuse to use it for some reason, the top one seems to be "where all the cool chickens lay eggs"

I may try and make some modifications to the lower one to make it more appealing.

Added: If Emerald does go into full broodyness, I think we probably will get her at least one fertile egg and see how she does with it.

 

[3peeps]

Quote:
Just like riding in the back of the bus when we were little...a place I never saw! Dead front...that would be me.

I may try and make some modifications to the lower one to make it more appealing.

I'm thinking of adding another one on the side of where my girls lay. Could you try that? I'm another one of the "highly observant" ones who didn't notice your mega-thread until recently so I don't know your complete setup...still trying to catch up!

Added: If Emerald does go into full broodyness, I think we probably will get her at least one fertile egg and see how she does with it.

Aw, 'cmon dad, how about some siblings...I heard an odd number of eggs is easier for the hen to turn...say, three?​

 

[barg]

Quote:
Just like riding in the back of the bus when we were little...a place I never saw! Dead front...that would be me.

I may try and make some modifications to the lower one to make it more appealing.

I'm thinking of adding another one on the side of where my girls lay. Could you try that? I'm another one of the "highly observant" ones who didn't notice your mega-thread until recently so I don't know your complete setup...still trying to catch up!​

Quote:
Aw, 'cmon dad, how about some siblings...I heard an odd number of eggs is easier for the hen to turn...say, three?

Good idea, I'll go with an odd number.... hey wait, one Is an odd number, I'll go with that

Welcome to the thread hehe,
so far today, emerald has not gone into the box, so this may all be irrelevant, but we will see.

 

[barg]

Quote:
There isnt very many places in the coop I could move it to because oif the way its set up, to the side of the upper nest box is a window, so that wouldnt work; but if im not worried about collecting eggs from it, I could probably find somewhere to put it.

Quick update: We got 1 egg today- an Australorp egg, but we don't know who laid it.
Emerald spent alot of the day eating the layer feed, much more time then any of the other birds, but she never went into the nest box at all, unless she's the one who laid the egg.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, she doesn't seem to be sitting very tight. When my girls go broody... you cannot get them to leave and they puff up real bad. They look like miniature turkeys! hahahaha. Maybe she'll sit tighter in the spring.

 

[3peeps]

Quote:
I thought of that right after posting...but three is way cooler, wouldn't you agree?

Sounds like you won't need any, though.

I had another thought last night. My friend has a gazillion nest boxes it seems, and her hens still lay outside the box....in the hay for a while, up in the loft once or twice, now in the horse feeder. They all have to lay in the same place. So, whatever we humans decide to rig up, they still may circumvent (no pun intended - Emerald: My vent did WHAT? It looks like a circle? I don't get it...) due to their innate desires to do whatever they want.

 

[barg]

Quote:
Quote:
I thought of that right after posting...but three is way cooler, wouldn't you agree?

Sounds like you won't need any, though.

I had another thought last night. My friend has a gazillion nest boxes it seems, and her hens still lay outside the box....in the hay for a while, up in the loft once or twice, now in the horse feeder. They all have to lay in the same place. So, whatever we humans decide to rig up, they still may circumvent (no pun intended - Emerald: My vent did WHAT? It looks like a circle? I don't get it...) due to their innate desires to do whatever they want.

Well , she's at it again.
Both Dominique and Mrs.Nezbit are going in and out of the coop house and trying to get to the nest box while Emerald squeels at them.

I thought that if I put some of their own eggs in the lower nest box, maybe they would see that one as more appealing.
I had tried putting a wooden egg in there before but one of the chickens rolled it out of the box , across the floor and out of the coop house.

A few minutes after I put the real eggs in the lower box, I found Domineak rolling one of the eggs out of the box.
I can't think of any other way to make that lower box more appealing, and it just wont work anywhere else.

I'm guessing Emerald will get pushed out again.