Starting new thread so my pullets will lay.

[aart]

Haha!! This is a joke, mostly.

I've seen numerous times when someone starts thread wondering,
"why oh why haven't my chickens laid an egg yet?!?!?!?!"...
.... lo and behold, within a few days their birds start to lay.

So thought I'd give it a shot.




Put the portable nest in the coop today, and slapped together another one.
A few of the pullets are looking close to laying, reddening up and Woody has mounted them,
and just the 4 main nests for now 23 potential layers could cause a traffic jam.
Time will tell if this is enough...and whether anyone will use the hack and slash open bin nest.

There's another hoop coop planned soon, this time with nests, for that overflow/transition time between when new pullets are in full lay and older birds are culled before winter.

 

[Plucky Clucks]

Lol, loved this post! Maybe if I do the same my hen will start laying as well! She's a truly ginormous 4 1/2 month old American Bresse that's been staking out a nesting spot for weeks but so far nothing... Good luck!

 

[QueenMisha]

That open nest... is that... a cat litter pan in a wooden drawer??

 

[aart]

That open nest... is that... a cat litter pan in a wooden drawer??

Just a plastic pan, probably sold as a dish washing pan, that I used to mix small batches of sculptural cement in.
Wood is just 4 pieces of 5/4 x 6 (actual size 1 x 5.5) decking scraps cut to size and screwed together....so they wouldn't tip it over pan standing on the edge.
Bottom of pan is probably 1/4 - 1/2" off floor.

 

[QueenMisha]

Just a plastic pan, probably sold as a dish washing pan, that I used to mix small batches of sculptural cement in.
Wood is just 4 pieces of 5/4 x 6 (actual size 1 x 5.5) decking scraps cut to size and screwed together....so they wouldn't tip it over pan standing on the edge.
Bottom of pan is probably 1/4 - 1/2" off floor.

Definitely a bit piecemeal, but if it works, it works! I gave up on nesting boxes at all years ago. My ladies would rather lay in the corners of the coop on the floor and I can't do anything to convince them otherwise.

 

[aart]

Quote: Haha! Indeed. Thus, the terms I used, if you noted..... 'slapped together' and 'hack and slash'.

Was easy, had the components on hand, boards were perfect width, cut a few inches off ends to fit to pan lip, drill clearance holes for screws, and screw it together. Function mostly trumps frivolity here. Took 30 minutes to be done and in the coop with straw. Whether it will be used, remains to be seen.

Have never really had problems with my birds using nests, except at POL of course where they are likely to drop them wherever.
Most my nests are roomy, yet cozy being mostly enclosed, fake eggs/golf balls entice them in, and main nest bank is mounted in wall with an out of coop back access door that drops down into a 'table' for my basket, so easy for me to collect them too.

 

[aart]

Well, it took ten days...so starting thread to induce laying a fail....haha!

But finally, in one of the main nests, a disappointing green from 1 of 5 possible blue layers(EE's):

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm joining - I have about 20 pullets, hatched a the end of March. So far, I've only seen two half-sized eggs, laid Thurs. and Fri. Presumably by the same pullet - they were found in the same little corner of the coop and looked alike. We were gone over the weekend, chickens cooped up, but no sign of any more baby eggs. Just the regular full-sized adult eggs. Hoping for a little more production this week.

 

[eleaserek]

I'm gonna play too! I have three point of lay girls. One EE, one partridge rock and a light brahma. They are all just shy of 22 weeks. I know it's early for the brahma, but the Rock has been squatting for a week! Come on!!!

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm going to haunt the coop all day tomorrow to see if I can figure out who was leaving the baby eggs. My Brahmas are about 4 1/2 months old and very red in the wattles and comb. The other suspect might be my BRs. No one else looks too promising.