Roosting issue + possibly broody hen

[lysanderish]

Just when you start to think you have a grasp on the whole bird mom schtick, they (the birds) decide they're going to start being weirdos. Well, at least, mine have.

So I have 4 chooks all if whom are currently laying and are about 6 months old, iirc. Until recently, everyone except Lady Pouff (a polish), who occasionally decided that up a tree was her bed, was pretty content to sleep in the coop. They liked to pile up in the one nesting box because our coop is a poorly designed prefab that I'm praying will make it through the winter at this point (I would have liked to look at other options but the fiance got us a "deal" and was pushy). Recently, however, everyone has decided that the top of the coop is the best bed and I have to wait until well after dark to move them inside the coop or they'll just run out and get on top again. I honestly wouldn't care that much if they didn't leave just so much poop on the roof oh my god or if I was not worried that a neighbor cat would be emboldened by the dark and make a meal of somebody. Any tips to help keep them off the coop? I was considering finding some way to block it off with bird netting.

Another problem I'm having is that my buff orpington, Arnold, might be going broody. She's normally pretty docile. She pecks my feet when I have the audacity to try to do chores outside without first giving her a treat, but she's otherwise very gentle and sweet. Recently she's begun screeching and puffing up at me when I happen to check the nesting box while she's in there and she's taken to biting us if we touch her while she's sitting in there. I've noticed she's been spending increasing amounts of time sitting on the fake eggs, tucking them under her, and generally disrupting everyone's routines by refusing to get her butt out of the box, bc of course all four of them insist on laying in the same box (except when the fake eggs aren't there, because that means it's time for everyone to go lay eggs in the hedges). She sounds like she's going broody to me but idk this is my first batch of tiny dinos.

 

[chixcoop]

Just when you start to think you have a grasp on the whole bird mom schtick, they (the birds) decide they're going to start being weirdos. Well, at least, mine have.

So I have 4 chooks all if whom are currently laying and are about 6 months old, iirc. Until recently, everyone except Lady Pouff (a polish), who occasionally decided that up a tree was her bed, was pretty content to sleep in the coop. They liked to pile up in the one nesting box because our coop is a poorly designed prefab that I'm praying will make it through the winter at this point (I would have liked to look at other options but the fiance got us a "deal" and was pushy). Recently, however, everyone has decided that the top of the coop is the best bed and I have to wait until well after dark to move them inside the coop or they'll just run out and get on top again. I honestly wouldn't care that much if they didn't leave just so much poop on the roof oh my god or if I was not worried that a neighbor cat would be emboldened by the dark and make a meal of somebody. Any tips to help keep them off the coop? I was considering finding some way to block it off with bird netting.

Another problem I'm having is that my buff orpington, Arnold, might be going broody. She's normally pretty docile. She pecks my feet when I have the audacity to try to do chores outside without first giving her a treat, but she's otherwise very gentle and sweet. Recently she's begun screeching and puffing up at me when I happen to check the nesting box while she's in there and she's taken to biting us if we touch her while she's sitting in there. I've noticed she's been spending increasing amounts of time sitting on the fake eggs, tucking them under her, and generally disrupting everyone's routines by refusing to get her butt out of the box, bc of course all four of them insist on laying in the same box (except when the fake eggs aren't there, because that means it's time for everyone to go lay eggs in the hedges). She sounds like she's going broody to me but idk this is my first batch of tiny dinos.

I have the same problem! 2 of my hens would always go on top of the coop on the edge. I think it was because I did not have any roosts built in their coop. Do you have roosts in your coop? What I did, is I just took them off of the roof, and put them into their coop. I have a chicken wire roof, so it is hard for them to walk away from me, when I try to get them. Do your hens try to walk away from you when you try to take them off of the roof? Mine eventually got the idea, but it was pretty annoying when I would go out every night and the same 2 hens would be in the same exact spots.

As for your hen, she sounds like she is going broody. I have never had to deal with a broody hen, but I would try looking at some youtube videos.

good luck, keep me posted!

 

[chixcoop]

Quote: Also, I would not keep the fake eggs in the box, because that also triggers a chickens "broodieness." If you have trouble with getting them to lay in their egg boxes, I would just lock the hens up in their coop for 4 days, 3 minimum. That's what my chickens are doing now! Too many eggs in the pine needle nest, in a patch of poison ivy was not good for me!

 

[lysanderish]

There are roosts in the coop but they're level with the nesting boxes and mostly just on the floor when the droppings tray has wood shavings in. Very poorly designed and I wish I'd known better. Like, it's supposed to be big enough for four hens and that may be truth mathematically but it certainly doesn't look it when all four are inside. I'm going to keep moving them inside every night until they get the clue or until we figure out some better solution.

As for the fake eggs, we tried taking them out before. Pouff and Arnold started laying elsewhere the very next day. I'll try taking them out again and see how it goes. She's still laying and it seems like she's leaving the coop when she's laid her egg for the day, she just spends an inordinate amount of time (we're talking several hours) sitting before she lays and she's aggressive during that time.

If Arnold is going broody I'll have to try that water thing from the video.

 

[chixcoop]

There are roosts in the coop but they're level with the nesting boxes and mostly just on the floor when the droppings tray has wood shavings in. Very poorly designed and I wish I'd known better. Like, it's supposed to be big enough for four hens and that may be truth mathematically but it certainly doesn't look it when all four are inside. I'm going to keep moving them inside every night until they get the clue or until we figure out some better solution.

As for the fake eggs, we tried taking them out before. Pouff and Arnold started laying elsewhere the very next day. I'll try taking them out again and see how it goes. She's still laying and it seems like she's leaving the coop when she's laid her egg for the day, she just spends an inordinate amount of time (we're talking several hours) sitting before she lays and she's aggressive during that time.

If Arnold is going broody I'll have to try that water thing from the video.

Is it possible for you to put more roosts higher in the coop? Maybe they do not like how the roosts are low, and want to stay the night in a high place. Have you tired to keep your chickens in the coop for a couple days? This may help to train them to lay in the nesting boxes. What material do you have in the nesting boxes?

Look at what Ridgerunner said in this thread about pullets (under a year) not laying iin their egg boxes.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1011911/chickens-not-laying-eggs-in-nesting-boxes

 

[aart]

Your roosting problems will probably not be solved until you get a bigger coop with higher roosts.

Fake eggs can 'satisfy' a broody, but they will not make her broody.....that's all about hormones.
Breaking a broody by dipping in water is rather extreme IMO.....a broody breaker cage is a bit more humane......
.....but you don't have the room to use one.



My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.

 

[lysanderish]

That's the problem with the coop. There's not room to put roosts higher (I have been struggling to think of how to do it for two months now and no dice), plus it's so small that I'm worried they'll take up bad behaviours if I keep them cooped up. Pearl (my ee) already is run off from food/treats, and she won't really have anywhere to run. We use pine shavings in the nesting boxes.

I don't really think it's a case of them refusing to use the box last time so much as one gal finding a nice dark hidey hole in the hedge and liking that a little better and then the other finding her eggs and saying, "Don't mind if I do."

The roof birds may just be something I'll have to live with until we build a new coop. You can be sure that I will not be making the same mistake twice about this. I will definitely be drawing up my own plans or finding some really nice ones online and asking my fiance's ex-mill-builder-guy dad for help building it. Lol

 

[lysanderish]

Your roosting problems will probably not be solved until you get a bigger coop with higher roosts. Fake eggs can 'satisfy' a broody, but they will not make her broody.....that's all about hormones. Breaking a broody by dipping in water is rather extreme IMO.....a broody breaker cage is a bit more humane...... .....but you don't have the room to use one. My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop and I would feed her some crumble a couple times a day. I let her out a couple times a day and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.

If I had the room I'd probably do that. Initially it looks less nice, but then ya gotta remember she's not interested in roaming when she's broody anyway. I don't think the water thing is probably that bad though. The bird in the video was very calm the whole time and it can't be much different than bathing them, except using cold water. Not super pleasant but I imagine it's not hurting them any. Thanks for that about the fake eggs. I've heard before that accruing eggs in the nest causes broodiness, but I didnt really believe it. If that were true, wouldnt everyone on here wishing for a broody hen not be?

 

[lysanderish]

There's my coop, complete with convenient Cookie dog (she's a border collie mix, so she's a little larger than a purebred) for scale. We were just so uninformed when we bought this. *cries*

The nesting box is actually sagging so we had to prop it up. This piece of trash has only been put together since April at the earliest.

 

[shelby h]

There's my coop, complete with convenient Cookie dog (she's a border collie mix, so she's a little larger than a purebred) for scale. We were just so uninformed when we bought this. *cries*

The nesting box is actually sagging so we had to prop it up. This piece of trash has only been put together since April at the earliest.

We had one similar to this. Once our four girls got bigger, i almost cried, there was no room, and yes - the roost bars are a terrible joke. We started saving up and bought a Wooden shed that we converted for them.
We were pretty uniformed as well

We're keeping the prefab coop only because it'll be nice to have for when we Get more chicks.

If you can, build a nice size run around it. We did that for them to have a little more room until we got the new coop built