help..my girls HATE their nest boxes...

[redhen]

..i tried to actually put them in one today..(with some fake eggs..

)...but they just bawked in fright..and scrambled out....

...how do i get them to start hanging out in there a bit..so they can notice the eggs..and hopefully...

..get the idea?...i had "the talk" with them also...showed them the eggs....the blue/green ones for the aracaunas/ameracaunas...the brown for my RIR...etc...

....LOL...still..they want nothing to do with the boxes!!..which have been in there for a while now...do i have to build different boxes or what?..thanks,

Wendy

 

[nccountrygirl]

Until they start laying there not interested in the nest boxes, but when they start they will figure it out by themselves. I have a pullet that has gone broody and all she does is stay on the nest. Don't worry they'll get it.

 

[Chirpy]

Yup, nccountrygirl's right on. Right now those nest boxes mean nothing to them... once they start laying they will figure out that those are great places to leave their precious gifts!

 

[Dar]

I had to confine my gals in the coop for a few days until they got the idea to lay in the nest and not in my flower beds but until i did that they had no intrest in using the nests for anything but as a toilet

 

[redhen]

hi everone..thanks for the advice...heres 2 pictures of them..the first one is with doors still attached...the second is without the doors, i took them off today..i thought that maybe they didnt like the doors(for whatever reason)..so now do i need to add a roost bar for the top nests?....also..can anyone see any reason they wouldnt use them?...anything i need to change?..thanks,

Wendy....

 

[PotterWatch]

How old are they?

 

[redhen]

19..maybe 20 weeks..i know its a bit early....(for some of them)...but...i am trying to figure out how to get them to even go in them..and see the eggs....and then hopefully get the "idea"..

...lol...Wendy.

 

[onebuggirl]

Ahhhh an excited expecting mommy. Relax. When your girls are ready they will figure things out. That's the beauty of Nature. Somehow eggs or no eggs they will know that the boxes are for nesting.

 

[redhen]

lol..i hope so!!...

 

[PotterWatch]

I don't think that's at all too early to put in next boxes. In one of my coops, I put a nest box in when my oldest one started squatting. My other coop still doesn't have a box because two of the girls are only 12wks and the other one is just now starting to get a larger comb and wattles.

As far as your boxes go, I wouldn't worry if they don't want to stay in there when you put them in. I'll bet they will check them out soon and though you may get some that lay outside the boxes, they will probably all eventually get the idea.