I know I'm not the only owner to find hens spending the night in their egg boxes... so here's the story. Introduced eight new hens to the existing flock of five, and they share a henhouse. At night, the older flock uses the perches I built for everyone. The new hens like to cram themselves in the three egg boxes (each measure about 12"x12"x10", and "cram" means about four hens per box. None of them use the perches the older hens are on, and believe me -- there's room for everyone up there. On top of it, the older hens like to stuff themselves into one corner of the house, leaving tons of space on the perches.
Options:
1. Let it go, and clean all of the poop out of the egg boxes on a daily basis. Not what I want to do.
2. During the night, block access to the egg boxes to force the new hens to use the perches
3. Dismantle the existing perches and build something brand new for everyone so that nobody has "ownership"
Which option is best?
Thanks,
Tom
Options:
1. Let it go, and clean all of the poop out of the egg boxes on a daily basis. Not what I want to do.
2. During the night, block access to the egg boxes to force the new hens to use the perches
3. Dismantle the existing perches and build something brand new for everyone so that nobody has "ownership"
Which option is best?
Thanks,
Tom