We had two hens, probably Delawares and a rooster. Two weeks ago we were given six more "rescues" from a commercial egg producer that were on their way to the dogfood factory. Long story, but these have finished their first moult and are now laying again, 3-4 eggs /day.
The birds are the little white critters that you normally see around those places and probably have never been anywhere that they could run or roost, much less use a nesting box.
One of the six does use the nest box but the rest never leave ground level (10" of shavings) and lay in a corner, then cover the eggs. Our pop door is 12" above the shavings level (with a ramp) but they haven't found it yet.
Is there any hope that these will start to behave like the rest of our birds or are they gonna pretend that they are still in the egg factory where they spent the first year or so of their laying life? Any idea what kind of birds they might be?
Has anyone ever clipped the nails of their birds? These have very long talons from their past life, our birds keep theirs worn down from scratching in the gravel/dirt....
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The birds are the little white critters that you normally see around those places and probably have never been anywhere that they could run or roost, much less use a nesting box.
One of the six does use the nest box but the rest never leave ground level (10" of shavings) and lay in a corner, then cover the eggs. Our pop door is 12" above the shavings level (with a ramp) but they haven't found it yet.
Is there any hope that these will start to behave like the rest of our birds or are they gonna pretend that they are still in the egg factory where they spent the first year or so of their laying life? Any idea what kind of birds they might be?
Has anyone ever clipped the nails of their birds? These have very long talons from their past life, our birds keep theirs worn down from scratching in the gravel/dirt....
"
