New member question on DLM.

[wareaglemom2]

My coop has a wire floor with a pull out tray underneath to catch all the droppings. When my chickens dig around in the nest box, they are throwing shavings onto the wire floor, which then fall through and fill up the tray. When I try to pull out the tray to empty it out, I can't pull it out due to the excess shavings. My question is this: Should I go ahead and put shavings in top of the wire floor and not worry about pulling out the tray to clean it, thereby having the deep litter method? I am a little worried about my chickens being too cold without shavings on the floor of the coop. Also, my chickens are 7 months old and still have not layed any eggs. Could the problem with the wire floor be keeping them from laying? They are pooping in the nesting box, so I think I am doing something wrong, but not sure how to correct it. Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[Tanichca]

Well first of all

2... wire floors are NOTORIOUSLY bad for chickens to walk on for extended periods of time. The birds dont feel safe, and they feel like they have no place to "do their business", so they will go in the nearest available place with a hard floor, AKA the nest box. Since the box is full of unmentionable icky stuff, the birds will not want to lay in it at all.

 

[wareaglemom2]

so do you think I should put a floor over the wire so they will feel more stable?

 

[Judy]

I don't think chickens really do very well on wire, but not sure about this.

You need to close off the nest boxes at night and make sure they have a comfortable roost which is higher than the nest boxes. the roost needs to be fairly wide, like the wide side of a 2x4 or a good sized tree branch, so they can rest on their feet and keep them warm.

Laying -- you did not mention breed. You can add a small light to give them 14 hours a day of daylight. Many breeds will come into lay at or around 20 weeks, some take much longer, but the bottom line is, they will lay when they are ready. Shorter days, cooler temps, a 6 month partial molt, type of diet, some sort of stress can all contribute to fewer eggs.

A read through some threads on the FAQ page might be quite helpful for you.

 

[wareaglemom2]

Forgot to mention this- I have 3 Barred Rock hens. Thanks for all your information- I am new at chicken keeping.