Getting ready for laying.

[chicksandbunnys]

Hey ya'll! I got some good news and some bad news. As you see my user name is "chicksandbunnys" I had to wait a long time but i have everything good and i'm ready for my chickens to start laying any day now! Ive gotten my bunny whitch is with my chickens and is doing fine! I dont like all the chicken poop for him so im building a new pen for him with concrete on the bottom with straw so he can burrow ! and a fenceing around it. I will be getting him a friend of course! The other day I was putting my chicks in from running around the yard and i guess i didnt fully shut the screen door from my house and my dog got out! she came bolting down to my coop attacked my silkie! I rushed over to my dog spanked her on the bum HARD! and i out her inside i sprinted down the hill and i found my silkie in the long grass ann scared i was suprised when he let me pick him up! he was doing fine but 2 days after he had enough and wanted peace! my silkie is now gone, i barried him in the woods under some nice trees with lots of leaves and a stick out of the ground remembering him. Whenever i go on the four wheeler on the woods i go see him ! r.i.p!

Now to the laying!

I have 5 chickens now 2 brahama 1 sussex 1 easter egger and now only 1 silkie! They still havent discovered the nesting boxes in my coop! they stil lay on the ground! i want them to go up there because dont want eggs on the floor once they start laying! they are about 3 months. I've tooken shavings off the ground so i thought they would go up there but still no! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME? what do i do to make these go in the nesting boxes at night?????

Thanks poultry owners!

~ Brandon

 

[ChickensRDinos]

I am not sure why you would want them in the nest boxes at night. Sleeping in the nest boxes is NOT good. It will lead to nest boxes full of poop and dirty eggs and is a hard habit to break once they start. Do you have roosts in your coop? They should have a separate sleeping/roosting space. The only time you want them going in the boxes in when they are laying an egg or broody. If they are not laying eggs yet they it is good they aren't in there. How old are they?

 

[chicksandbunnys]

They are about 3 and a half months? i got them at the end of may! and okay they do sleep on the ground all together! but when they start laying eggs they will go in the nesting boxes? And all i have is an old wooden ladder for them to get up the the nesting boxes!