Poopy egg??

[Blooie]

I took @aart suggestion, who covers the nest boxes in the late afternoon before they go in to roost, then uncovers them at night after they've gone to sleep. I was just covering them at night and leaving them until morning, when they were looking to start the day's laying, but it made so much more sense to have them already open when they wake up because I have a couple of very early layers and I am basically a lazy, sleep-in kind of person.

I know I can't prevent every poopy egg. The Brahmas, with their big bodies and feathered legs, do tend to drag stuff into the nests on their feet. When I integrated the young chicks with the older birds, the younger ones would often just sit in the nests watching the Bigs with great suspicion and pooping if they felt the urge. It took a lot of grabbing and tossing to break that habit. There has been a dramatic reduction in the amount of poop on eggs, but now that it's just a couple on occasion it's pretty easy to just wipe those off.

 

[PlanterJeff]

I am new to this whole chicken thing, so you can take my advice with a grain of salt, but I second what others are saying about the hens sleeping in the nest box is a huge issue. I built my coop from scratch so I did a lot of research on the construction and one of the things I kept reading was to make sure your nesting boxes are lower than the roosts because the last thing you want is for them to sleep and poo in the nest. You may not think one chicken could not make a big difference at night, but I can tell you my Poo Boards under the roosts are covered in over an inch of poo within one week. That is having only 4 hens. I use both shavings and straw for my nest box. The chickens appreciate the straw to build the nest and the shavings add a nice underlying cushion. They actually kick most of the shavings out of the box. I think the hay is easier to get out though because it just comes out as one big nest where as I sometimes need a shop vac to get all the little shavings out. With all this said, IF your roost is higher, then I would go out each night and pick up said hen, remove her from the box and put her on the roost with the other hens. I had hen that was reluctant to use the roost at first too so I followed this procedure for about a week and then all of a sudden she started doing it on her own.

 

[BarredRockMom]

No disresoect intended, I just have a different opinion. I understand that some folks think it's a bad habit that the hens get into when they sleep in their boxes. And it's not ideal, I will grant you. But if all my girls want to do is sleep on a soft bed of shavings ang give me an egg for it, I'm ok with it. Poop here, poop there, poop everywhere. I have to scoop it all up & clean anyhow, so if she is happy and feels secure, it's ok by me. Not everyone sleeps in the box, and not all of the time. The suggestion about closing off the boxes is a good one, as is the roosting bar height relative to the box. Those are things I can try if the hens sleeping in their boxes & leaving me packages ever becomes an issue.

 

[Chick423]

Why is it a bad habit for chickens to sleep in the nesting boxes? Mine seem to take turns doing it, I've never seen a problem with it but if someone could explain it would be helpful

 

[aart]

Why is it a bad habit for chickens to sleep in the nesting boxes? Mine seem to take turns doing it, I've never seen a problem with it but if someone could explain it would be helpful

Because they poop a lot at night, and I sure don't want all that poop where the eggs will be lai.

 

[All Ball]

I had no poop problem with my first 3 girls, until year 2 of laying when my EE developed some looseness in her system and would often deliver an egg with a small crown of poop on it. This continued for several months, then suddenly disappeared - I guess she redeveloped some tone!

My new crop of legbars however have been a poopy egg challenge - either they are dirtier, or more hens = more coop poop.


I've had to go in at dusk and kick one persistent girl out of the nest - she is bottom of the rung and I'm afraid she may be getting harassed on the roost, though I've tried to provide a lot of roost space.

Even when she isn't nest sleeping, I was still getting poppy eggs - and always smeary cecal poop, very hard to get off. I have an early deep litter of straw and shavings over compost, and the poop tends to lay on top, and I think girls are tracking the stickiest stuff into the nest.

I have been able to limit it by raking poop into the litter each morning - work I had been hoping to avoid!

So there are some different scenarios for you re possible poppy egg causes...