Getting to know chickens -media diary

DAY 10

Today I was starting to wonder about the pecking order, and how it works, because in the beginning it seemed pretty clear that Kali was in charge, Greta second and Aart clumsily at the bottom. Now Aart is really the first one to come when you call and seems to be thriving, she is chatting continuously in a merry manner and steals treats in front of Kalis nose without blinking. Could the order have changed, or are they just taking good care of her?
Greta seems to be the most capable at most things: she eats the biggest chunks of food, she seems the brightest and first to understand stuff, she owns the others at flying (like when the drawer is out and they cannot walk to the roost she flies to sit there and Aart isn't able to fly to the roost stick if the drawer is out, she just falls down 🤭 and she once flew up outside very high and gracefully, while the others are just flapping about sometimes). But Kali seems still the most alert and attentive to what is going on around, and she is also somehow seemeing to guide them about what to eat? so I'm not sure!

Staying a bit alert might not be a terrible idea, when you are always being watched by Escher the guardian angel
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They are pretty chill napping while the cats are checking out their house
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Aart sleeping in the doorway
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Also a funny little story, we have had a spider in our window for almost a year, who dealt with some of the fruitflies that comes along with the worm hotel. Well, it had a good life and a natural death, and this morning it was dangling.
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So I thought it would be a nice circle of life if the chickens like a well fed spider. Greta took care of it
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I got a video from a friend of a chicken sitting on a broom, and that's how they were cleaning the roof from spiders :gigcant' find it online, but perhaps I upload it somewhere myself.


Aso, I have a question...... Is there a way to convince the chickens not to use the laying nests as their main toilet? The nesting material is the hardest to clean, and I guess right now it doesn't make much sense to them since they are not laying yet. Do I need to put only nest material so they somehow manage to make a difference, or just use it as any regular coop space and not put nesting material yet?

Extra greetings from Aart the chatty chick
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Simply adorable! :love Are they sleeping in the nest boxes at night? If they are, you need to block off the boxes at night and get them roosting on the roost bar. (Be sure and unblock them first thing in the morning. An old towel stuffed in there will do.) You might also hang a curtain on the front of the nest box to encourage egg laying only. As @MaryJanet suggested, fake eggs along with a darkened box will encourage egg laying and broodiness instead of sleeping. Get them roosting on the bar and they should avoid the box until they need to lay. :)
 
Aso, I have a question...... Is there a way to convince the chickens not to use the laying nests as their main toilet?
Yup, keeping them from sleeping in nests by having roosts higher than nests.
And/Or block nests.
I rigged a hinged cover to drop down an hour before roost time...


....then open back up when locking up after dark(if you don't want to get up at the crack of dawn).


or just block nests until they are closer to laying age.
 
Okay thanks @aart @MaryJanet and @TwoCrows for all the good advice! >Those are good solutions.
I guess the easiest for now is to just block the nestboxes for a few weeks, and then I'll start making them look "nest-like" with eggs once we are closing in on the right age. I think they are indeed sleeping there now. It's a bit chilly and they seem to prefer just laying in a big huddle rather than roosting on the sticks. Maybe I need to get the sticks higher up (It's one of those premade coops kind of ikea style, just assembled it together)
So now I just put some (easy to clean) tarp to fill up the nests, let's see how that works out!

Furthermore it is really easy to clean the hemp, I just have an old spaghetti-scoop with which I pick up each poop and if anything looks moist or dirty. So far no stink (the hemp also has some eucalyptus added to it, so it actually smells pretty fresh). I still need to get a scrape or something for the roost sticks and the ladder.

DAY 11
SOOOO WINDY!
The hens were happy to come out for breakfast this morning, but I suspect they will spend some time indoors today 🤭 I sure will! And we are going away a couple of days for work, so Eva will be taking care of them
 
Okay thanks @aart @MaryJanet and @TwoCrows for all the good advice! >Those are good solutions.
I guess the easiest for now is to just block the nestboxes for a few weeks, and then I'll start making them look "nest-like" with eggs once we are closing in on the right age. I think they are indeed sleeping there now. It's a bit chilly and they seem to prefer just laying in a big huddle rather than roosting on the sticks. Maybe I need to get the sticks higher up (It's one of those premade coops kind of ikea style, just assembled it together)
So now I just put some (easy to clean) tarp to fill up the nests, let's see how that works out!

Furthermore it is really easy to clean the hemp, I just have an old spaghetti-scoop with which I pick up each poop and if anything looks moist or dirty. So far no stink (the hemp also has some eucalyptus added to it, so it actually smells pretty fresh). I still need to get a scrape or something for the roost sticks and the ladder.

DAY 11
SOOOO WINDY!
The hens were happy to come out for breakfast this morning, but I suspect they will spend some time indoors today 🤭 I sure will! And we are going away a couple of days for work, so Eva will be taking care of them
Great! I would go ahead and block the boxes off until laying time gets closer. This will teach them to roost and they will long forget about sleeping in the boxes. Nearly all youngsters prefer sleeping in the boxes and need to be encouraged to roost on the bars. You may need to physically place them on the bar each night till they get the hint this is what you want them to do. :)
 
Oh, and question: does anyone know how to include videos in the posts? For now I'm making gifs out of it, which lowers the quality a lot and limits how long the video is.

You must use an intermediary like you tube to host your videos. Then you paste in a link using the ... drop down and then selecting media.
 
Great! I would go ahead and block the boxes off until laying time gets closer. This will teach them to roost and they will long forget about sleeping in the boxes. Nearly all youngsters prefer sleeping in the boxes and need to be encouraged to roost on the bars. You may need to physically place them on the bar each night till they get the hint this is what you want them to do. :)
Hey!
It seems that blocking off the nests has got them going with the roosting. Greta is now every time sleeping on the sticks, and the two others are getting there, and mostly when they go to bed they are all on the sticks and I just suspect they don't stay there all night. So thanks for the advice!
 

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