Sus_
In the Brooder
This is new for me.
Do your hens freak out if you use bedding they aren't used to in their nesting boxes? Has anyone had their hens complain loudly when they used pine shavings?
We had a leak in our boxes during the rain, so I replaced the old hay with pine shavings (Petsmart FullCheeks Pine Shavings). They did not like this. They screamed and hollered that day and even wanted to lay the eggs up in their poop tray in the coop. I put their (real) eggs in the nest box again and left it for a day hoping they would get the idea, but they still laid them in random spots in the coop.
The next morning same thing, they screamed and hollered, kept walking in and out of the coop, yelling to me that their boxes were no good. They tried finding corners in their coop, and even the space between the wall supports at the floor they wanted to try to nest in that. I then went back to the store and bought some new timothy hay because that is what they initially had in there. I put it over the pine shavings, and again put their eggs in each box. One started laying again so I thought they were all good, but the other two kept freaking out and squawking.
I can only imagine them looking at their boxes like when you are on a drive somewhere, you stop in a gas station bathroom, and it is so bad you would rather wait until you get to a department store bathroom or something because there's no 'flippin' way you'd be forced to sit in there. But seriously, I had no idea nesting boxes could be the cause of such panic and chaos!
How do you clean out your nesting boxes, any issues like this?
Do your hens freak out if you use bedding they aren't used to in their nesting boxes? Has anyone had their hens complain loudly when they used pine shavings?
We had a leak in our boxes during the rain, so I replaced the old hay with pine shavings (Petsmart FullCheeks Pine Shavings). They did not like this. They screamed and hollered that day and even wanted to lay the eggs up in their poop tray in the coop. I put their (real) eggs in the nest box again and left it for a day hoping they would get the idea, but they still laid them in random spots in the coop.
The next morning same thing, they screamed and hollered, kept walking in and out of the coop, yelling to me that their boxes were no good. They tried finding corners in their coop, and even the space between the wall supports at the floor they wanted to try to nest in that. I then went back to the store and bought some new timothy hay because that is what they initially had in there. I put it over the pine shavings, and again put their eggs in each box. One started laying again so I thought they were all good, but the other two kept freaking out and squawking.
I can only imagine them looking at their boxes like when you are on a drive somewhere, you stop in a gas station bathroom, and it is so bad you would rather wait until you get to a department store bathroom or something because there's no 'flippin' way you'd be forced to sit in there. But seriously, I had no idea nesting boxes could be the cause of such panic and chaos!
How do you clean out your nesting boxes, any issues like this?
