Pecked to death

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Im very sorry you lost your special pullet. Want to say this re your girls laying in an open corner instead of in the nest boxes. A big reason to give hens a private dark place to lay their eggs is because as an egg makes its exit, the lower part of the reproductive tract temporarily turns inside out. So even if a hen doesnt prolapse, another hen can see the reddish/pinkish lining of the reproductive tract and peck or pull on it. The oviduct can be completely pulled out along with possibly the intestines. Not intending to be gory, but wanted to mention that if your pullets have aquired a habit of laying in the open & you cant easily break the habit, u may want to build/put another nestbox in the spot where they lay. This can be as simple as placing a small plastic pet carrier filled with shavings in their preferred spot.

 

[mckaylaburgess]

Im very sorry you lost your special pullet. Want to say this re your girls laying in an open corner instead of in the nest boxes. A big reason to give hens a private dark place to lay their eggs is because as an egg makes its exit, the lower part of the reproductive tract temporarily turns inside out. So even if a hen doesnt prolapse, another hen can see the reddish/pinkish lining of the reproductive tract and peck or pull on it. The oviduct can be completely pulled out along with possibly the intestines. Not intending to be gory, but wanted to mention that if your pullets have aquired a habit of laying in the open & you cant easily break the habit, u may want to build/put another nestbox in the spot where they lay. This can be as simple as placing a small plastic pet carrier filled with shavings in their preferred spot.

Our Sunday project was giving them a few new nesting boxes! They weren’t sure of them at first but I bought some ceramic eggs to put in there and they laid in them yesterday.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Thats great! Glad to know u resolved the issue.

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens are very nosy creatures. I once had way too many chickens, and I went through my old barn to find some new interesting nest boxes. We had an old XL rural mail box that the girls loved. We also used some recycling crates. The funniest thing is when they used a bale of pine shavings that I had opened from the middle. Glad that you are having success with your new nest boxes and fake eggs.