I have ten hens of four breeds, 23 weeks old. Five are laying and three others are squatting. That's all fine and good; everyone's on schedule. I have more than adequate nesting boxes, very inviting, comfortable and private, which four of the five laying hens are using, no problem. I have fake eggs in the nesting boxes.
Then there's Pip. Pip is a Light Brahma who has been laying for, say, ten days. She's laid about 5-6 eggs. If she feels the urge to lay while free ranging, she wiggles her way into a thicket of vines at the entrance of the barn, and I have to fish her out. If I restrict her to the coop/run, she will lay from atop the roosts. I SWEAR. She'll pace back and forth, and eventually drop her egg onto the chicken wire which covers the poop pit below. Only one egg has been salvaged by the chicken wire; two other have been cracked, and her egg today was completely destroyed because she aimed it between the poop pit and the wall. I was able to retrieve the shell, but the contents are unreachable. That should be a lovely smell in a day or two.
Once, she even succeeded in landing her egg INSIDE the feeder, which is a PVC feeder with 2" round openings. I was pretty impressed by that.
She has ample mentors in the coop to show her how it's done, and there are plastic eggs in the nesting boxes. Short of restricting her to the nesting boxes themselves (which would necessitate keeping the other hens out, as it's one communal box), what can I do? It's not that it's a communal box, because I had a private one-sie practice nest and she rejected that too...
How do you solve a problem like Pip?
Then there's Pip. Pip is a Light Brahma who has been laying for, say, ten days. She's laid about 5-6 eggs. If she feels the urge to lay while free ranging, she wiggles her way into a thicket of vines at the entrance of the barn, and I have to fish her out. If I restrict her to the coop/run, she will lay from atop the roosts. I SWEAR. She'll pace back and forth, and eventually drop her egg onto the chicken wire which covers the poop pit below. Only one egg has been salvaged by the chicken wire; two other have been cracked, and her egg today was completely destroyed because she aimed it between the poop pit and the wall. I was able to retrieve the shell, but the contents are unreachable. That should be a lovely smell in a day or two.
Once, she even succeeded in landing her egg INSIDE the feeder, which is a PVC feeder with 2" round openings. I was pretty impressed by that.
She has ample mentors in the coop to show her how it's done, and there are plastic eggs in the nesting boxes. Short of restricting her to the nesting boxes themselves (which would necessitate keeping the other hens out, as it's one communal box), what can I do? It's not that it's a communal box, because I had a private one-sie practice nest and she rejected that too...
How do you solve a problem like Pip?
