First time with chickens!

[The Nichols']

Hi folks. Finally got some chickens for the lottie over the weekend and they seem to have settled in okay. One even laid an egg less than 24 hours after she'd been put in! Now that's what I called comfortable.

Anyway, just a quick question. The egg was near the outside door under the perches and instead of using the nestbox for its intended purpose, they seem to be using it as a toilet.

Only had them 2 days so don't really want this to become a habit. Is there any way they can be "trained" to lay and poop in what us humans would consider the correct places?

[Birdie Wife]

Hi Nichols,
Congratulations on your new family they are still setlling in and finding out where things are, so I wouldn't worry just yet, unless it becomes a habit. Make the nest box nice and comfy, draught-free and they'll soon work it out, I'm sure!

[bluemoon]

Try putting something 'egg-like' in the nest-box. You can buy pottery and rubber eggs, but our POL Rhodies currently have half a dozen golf-balls in the nest box in the hope that this gives them the idea (Dad's a golfer so they were his battered ones and free)

[frias]

Congrats on getting your girls. If they are using the nest box as a toilet they are probably sleeping in there. It's best to discourage this early on before it gets an established habit. I wait until they have gone to bed then remove the offender from nest box. After a couple of nights she gets the message. Or put something in front of nest box just before they go to bed so they can't get in there. I'm sure they'll soon learn to lay in the nest box.

[RichmondHens]

Agree with Frias - block the nestbox off at night to stop them sleeping in it, and in the morning when you unblock it, put a fake egg in so they get the idea that that's the place they lay.

[Bramble-Poultry]

we find here that if the perches are at the same level as the entranceto the nest box, the treat them all as sleeping - therefore your perches need to be a bit higher than the entrance to the nest box.

but dont make the perches too high, "you can never afford to buy chickens on higher perches"

[ckfe]

but dont make the perches too high, "you can never afford to buy chickens on higher perches"

ho ho ho.. are the shops selling christmas crackers already?

[Bramble-Poultry]

any excuse to use the joke CKFE, any excuse

[MaureenHall]

but dont make the perches too high, "you can never afford to buy chickens on higher perches"

Duh!!!!! I knew someone had to say it sooner or later!!

[HayleyB]

Gawd, I'm getting too old, took me about three or four reads before I got it

[Hilary B]

Gawd, I'm getting too old, took me about three or four reads before I got it

me too<g> Some jokes are so awful you just don't see them coming!

[frias]

Gawd, I'm getting too old, took me about three or four reads before I got it

Me too Hayley.