My 3 prima donna diva hens, Faverolles haven't laid any eggs since last November. I know it's a cold weather/hours of daylight thing. They tend to go to bed (roost) smack at the crack of sunset. When the weather went cold, they started climbing into the egg laying portion of their coop (an Eglu Cube), which was fine except they were pooping like crazy in there, and that section of the hen coop is NOT grated for poopies. I therefore closed off their entrance to the egg chamber.
SO! At last, here's my question... Is blocking them from the egg laying chamber having any effect on their egg laying? For example, I had a friend who raised parakeets (budgies) and when there were no nest boxes hanging around their flight cage, there was NO hanky panky. The minute the nest boxes went up, it was heart shaped chocolates, violins and nooky in parakeet land. Seems, the nest boxes triggered the bird's nesting/mating instincts. So is it possible I'm stymying my hen's ability to lay eggs by blocking them from their egg laying chamber? Do hens get simular stimulus from the sight of their egg chamber?
Think on it, and get back to me! I'm sitting here eggless in Fair Oaks, California.
SO! At last, here's my question... Is blocking them from the egg laying chamber having any effect on their egg laying? For example, I had a friend who raised parakeets (budgies) and when there were no nest boxes hanging around their flight cage, there was NO hanky panky. The minute the nest boxes went up, it was heart shaped chocolates, violins and nooky in parakeet land. Seems, the nest boxes triggered the bird's nesting/mating instincts. So is it possible I'm stymying my hen's ability to lay eggs by blocking them from their egg laying chamber? Do hens get simular stimulus from the sight of their egg chamber?
Think on it, and get back to me! I'm sitting here eggless in Fair Oaks, California.
