How Long Can They Hold It?

[ClareScifi]

I forgot to add that my sweet hen who laid the egg in my Avatar laid it on July 19. On August 25 of the same year, she passed away, cause unknown. It was 98 F out. I suspect a heart attack from fatty hemorrhagic liver disease, but I do not know. She had missing breast feathers and her toenails were very long-- both symptoms of that. I am afraid I fed her too much scratch and rice when she was a chick, making her too fat. She was a broody girl, and she went under the house for several days. It could be that she got a fatal case of mites or parasites down there. It was after she came out that I noticed the missing breast feathers. I had assumed they were from her broodiness, but now I think something more than that was amiss. She would pant a lot harder than her sister on hot days. Her sister survived that hot day. I miss my sweet hen. Her name was Merry Easter, and she was a happy girl. One time she literally jumped straight up in the air when she saw me coming with a treat, as if she were jumping for joy! Precious memories. That hen had so much personality and was a free spirit.

 

[RedDrgn]

Oh, how funny! That is a great story, RedDrgn!!!

Do you think real eggs would work, too? I have only 1 wooden egg and several plastic Easter eggs. I've tried golf balls, and they aren't impressed with them. But I'm thinking I could put real eggs in there?

Yes, real eggs would work, too. You just run the risk of them getting broken in that case and I wouldn't let one sit in a nest for more than a day or two if you were intending to eat it. Plastic easter eggs and wooden eggs would be fine - some just don't "buy" the round eggs (golf balls).

You also don't need to have one in every nest box. They'll probably move them around for you, anyway. We have three nest boxes and I put an egg in each for amusement purposes, because within 24 hours, all three fake eggs will be in one of the nest boxes with all of the real eggs.

 

[ClareScifi]

Will be fun to try Reddrgn! My handyman gets home this afternoon, and we will design our new nesting boxes and put fake eggs in them. The girls are going to be mad not having their high shelf anymore, but maybe the fake eggs will be good distractions?

 

[ambrosia]

Clare ~ I don't get that type of egg regularly out of my girls, and the first one scared me! She walked around with her tail down and later laid the egg out in the open... I think it must have gotten stuck. I did notice that one of my new layers laid one like this on Sunday, although the egg was just a tiny pullet egg... hopefully it won't happen too often, because it does make me worry. Thank you for the valuable info!

I had the dear Hubby put dividers in the nest boxes yesterday. And today they are not coming out until noon in hopes that I won't have as many eggs to find! The roosters are unhappy that their girls are still locked up, and the girls are squawking to beat the band! But I will stay strong...I will stay strong...

 

[ClareScifi]

LOL, Ambrosia. Congrats on your new nest dividers! I hope you get all your eggs, for a change. :>)

Coop Success! Yippee! My handyman made the improvements on my chicken coop today! I am so happy. It was a scary day. My Phat Girl decided to lay an egg, so I helped her up to the high shelf. For some reason, she didn't lay right away and decided to take a shortcut down to the ground, even though I was standing right by her to help her down. She has never done this before. She fell through a side hole straight down. I was terrified, knowing she had an egg inside her--

I finally got the handyman's attention with this frightening scenario (he had been putting off fixing the coop), and he immediately came and boarded up the bottom so no one could fall out of there or jump up there anymore.

Then he decided to use heavy fabric to barricade the shelf. He picked out a bright eye-catching patterned fabric with red on it, saying it would be better than boards, because if they tried to still jump up there, it wouldn't hurt them when they made contact with the fabric. He thought the bright colors and patterns would signal to the chickens that something was different and make it more evident to them they could no longer go up there than a plain board would. I would not have thought of this...

He put a board over the nesting boxes so they are covered now, and this will serve as their new nesting perch. It is 23" off the ground-- a bit higher than I had hoped, but maybe it makes the chickens a bit happier to be higher, rather than lower, since they were so high on the shelf. I put down plenty of pine shavings, so I think they will be okay jumping in them.

Then my girl laid her egg, cuddled up right next to my leg, which she used as a privacy barrier, and it was perfect and unbroken. I was so relieved!

Then the Bantie decided it was time to lay her egg, and guess where she laid it? Right in the middle of the newly covered nesting box! We were so happy.

Bed-time presented a problem. Baby the rooster and some of the white girls decided to roost on the part of the frame above the door to the coop. So my handyman had to board that up, too.

I think they are all now settled on the nesting box coering/nighttime perch. Whew! What a lot of work, but I am so grateful to have it done. My chickens hate changes of any kind, but I think this is going to work for them-- finally. And I am looking forward to sleeping in! I shouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore to help my Phat Girl down. I think she can manage quite nicely herself from the lower perch.

 

[ambrosia]

Well, it didn't work... left the girls in until 12:30, and had 8 eggs missing when I got back from shopping! I looked everywhere I could think of, and to no avail. I had really hoped to not have to build them a run but I am thinking that their days of free ranging are going to have to come to an end if I am ever to break this intolerable habit! We spend alot of time boarding up and removing access to their 'favorite' spots, but alas, they pick a new spot....

 

[ClareScifi]

I have a Bantie who is such a cute little creature of habit. I let her out to free-range, but she flies up over the 10 foot high walls to get back into the run and coop to lay her egg!

All my girls will seek out the coop even if they are free-ranging, to lay their eggs in. They prefer to lay them inside the coop, for some reason, than out in the wilds.

With the exception of one. She loves to lay her eggs inside a laddery wooden thing that is in the field. It is like a nesting box without a cover or bottom, but it has wooden sides, and the weeds that grow up them provide her privacy. She must be the wildest of my hens to prefer laying outside. She is so cute.

 

[ambrosia]

Wish my girls would go back to the coop! well, a few do, but the majority just like to play 'hide the eggs' from mom...!

 

[ClareScifi]

They sound like they have a lot of personality, your girls. We don't really eat eggs here, so I wouldn't mind if they laid them where I couldn't find them, but I do like to keep tabs on who is laying when, for health reasons, for fear someone might get eggbound or go broody.