Throwing fake eggs out of the box

[WindyOaksYokes]

Thanks for this mornings

on a couple of the replies...

birdbrain - thanks for the info... I will definatly call before going out there if thats what I decide to do.

Standardhen -

guess we have the pickiest hens ever

Schmoo - I dont know if I have any white rocks tha big... hmmmm...

mommahen - Is she still refusing to use that nesting box

Oh well, at least you know where to find them

I also leave my girls in til late morning... between 10 and 10:30.

Poly -

could be...

Update... no fake eggs thrown out this morning

Oh well.

Have a great day all
Tes

 

[FarmerMack]

Quote:
White rocks LOL, well since I've been out digging for crystals in Maine I have plenty of rocks some white some not. Now that's an idea a Yankee from N.H. likes since in N.H. we grow rocks without trying.


Famer Mack

and his Dixie chicks - Tweetie, Sylvie, Sweetie, Speedy, Dawn, Pooter, Fearless, Hoppy, Berylie, Heather and Rhodie.

 

[MissPrissy]

I have one hen who throws other eggs out of the box she wants to lay in.

Four girls want to lay in the scratch feeder box built into the wall. I think it is white wyandotte who is pitching out the eggs of the other 3 layers.

Are your chickens not laying in the boxes? If they are you don't really need the fake eggs any more.

P.S. How are the ducks? Is she laying daily now? More black eggs?

 

[WindyOaksYokes]

I too have a hen that loves to throw eggs out of the nest box but she only does it occasionally thank goodness. Glad I keep putting down double layers of hay under the nest boxes!!!!

MsPrissy - Daffy and Daisy are doing great... have scared me a few times LOL... they found the horses and love to go visit them

I only got a couple eggs from Daisy... I think she got mad at me for taking them because now she is hiding them and I can't find them

I know about where she goes everyday, but finding the eggs and her together is a chore!!! I dont think she will set this late in the season so I hate that they are a loss... Hopefully I can catch her next year and put her in a coop by herself while she lays, or even train her somehow. I will send you email later... have to get to work. Have a good day

 

[SeaChick]

Just a note on fake eggs: we bought white wooden ones from one of those chain craft stores (michaels, craftmania?) for about 70 cents each. They have worked really well getting the girls to lay in the boxes. For a while there was only one, and a golf ball in the other nest box, and they preferred to lay in the box with the fake egg. Not sure if it was an aversion to the golf ball or not. Now we have 2 fake eggs and girls laying in both boxes.

Stacey

 

[wegotchickens]

We found our fake eggs at Hobby Lobby (near the dollhouse & bead areas). I've also seen them at Cracker Barrell.

I had to write on the fake eggs "This is a fake egg" with a pencil because DH kept bringing them in once the BO's started laying.

Now, the hens aren't throwing them out. Someone is burying them in the edge of the nesting area, and someone else is dragging them outside the nesting area and arranging them in the dirt hole that one of the EE's wants as her nest.

 

[Smitty's Farm]

Quote:
I found our ceramic fake eggs at Hobby Lobby also. I also had to mark an x on them b/c they look so real. my daughter still collects a few by mistake.

They worked great in the beginning, but I have found that one one of the chickens a few times a week are throwing one out of the nest also. Since I don't have a cam, I have no idea which on is doing it. I have also found them kind of buried at the back of the nest. I've kept the fake eggs in there, b/c I think most of the chickens look for an egg in the nest before they lay. I've watched them hop on the roosting bar and investigate the nest before choosing one and then tucking the fake egg under them to settle to lay.

That is so funny that one of your EE wants the dirt hole for her nest. Did she make it in the hen house or is it in the run? I have one SLW that almost always lays in the back left corner of the coop every time. We named her Psyco. I guess I need to add a box there, b/c we've tried to encourage her to lay in the boxes. Chickens are so funny! I love them.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

My pullets and hens appear to favor the plastic easter eggs (filled with sand) over the fake wooden one. Maybe it's the weight? (the plastic egg is heavier than the wooden one) I don't know. I just know they never laid in the one nest box until I put the plastic egg in, and now they lay there more than the box with the wooden egg!

 

[wegotchickens]

We have a tractor, which we move every 2 weeks. The nest box is an "upper story" and is always in the same place. But someone ALWAYS digs a hole in the back left corner under the overhang of the nest box. Before eggs started being laid, it was a dust bath. But now Ms P wants to adopt it as her egg place. She's laid there a couple of times and I suspect she tries to move the fake eggs there.

The nest area is private, the dust hole is not. Daisy has laid in the nest box since her very first egg, before we even put fake eggs in there. One of the BO's uses the box regularly, the other drops the egg wherever she happens to be: ledge, dust hole, in front of the feed station. Since they only free range when we're there we can always locate the egg though.

Ms P just HAS to be different. She has been different since Day 1.

Like you, I can't watch all day to see who is doing what, and I know DH would never consider a chicken cam as a priority. Since I am electronically challenged I can't set anything up myself <sigh>.

 

[Feathered Gal]

Quote:
So funny! I did the same thing... in orange Sharpie! LOL - I had an old ceramic egg and put it in the next box when I first got my girls back in August. I have two boxes - but keep only one with the egg.
Some of them will lay an egg next to it - but somebody else manages to roll it out of the next box, and out on the main floor. Then one of my bantam Brahmas will make a nest around it and lay an egg next to it....

But somebody definitely doesn't Like it in the BOX, I'm always putting it back.
My boxes are just two sectioned off areas at the back of my coop, level with the main floor, with a 1 inch ledge- maybe I should make a higher ledge? The one Brahma liks to lay out on the main floor... chickens can be sooo unpredictable! LOL
Cheryl