Guess my chicks are bored

[7L Farm]

I filled the nesting box with hay put fake eggs on top. Nobody touched it for a long while. Now they are throwing the hay & eggs on the ground .So I refill the boxes put the egg on top & they repeat. Whats up with my chicks?

 

[chicmom]

How old are they? I usually wait until my pullets are around 17 weeks of age until I put hay or wood shavings in their nest boxes. Maybe you're right and they're just playing. Chickens sure do love to scratch around.....

The reason why I wait, regarding the nest boxes, is because if you put them in too early, then the pullets really don't know what purpose the nest boxes are for, and sometimes they end up sleeping in them, which means they poop in them. But if you wait, and add the nest boxes (or the stuff in the nest boxes) until very close to the laying age, the pullets sometimes instinctually know how to use them. So waiting keeps bad habits from starting....(Poopy eggs are such a bummer.)

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
6 chicks are 20 weeks & the other 4 are 16 weeks.

 

[chick4chix]

I agree with Chicmom about not letting them sleep in the nestbox- but... at 20 weeks you are getting close and those girls are "practicing" in there. Mine did that too- and would scratch, set, kick,set, and then leave- eventually they knew exactly where to deposit that first egg after all the practice they had kicking the shavings around trying to make the "perfect" spot. I think it's a sign you're going to be getting eggs soon- but just make sure they don't make a habit of sleeping in there at night.