The raucous cackles I heard coming from our wimp run could have entail any number of thing .
Maybe two hen were fighting over some tidbit . Some person may have invaded another birdie ’s space . Or , most likely , nesting loge wars were underway !
Sure enough , when I arrived at the scene of the to-do , I witnessed an wicked brawl taking spot within the coop .
Three chickens were campaign over their divine rightfulness to sit in onenesting boxwood . From their respective position , Charlotte appeared to have arrived first . But Turquoise had climbed in and was pecking ( none too fine I might add together ) the former on the head .
Meanwhile , Carrie stood by , screaming nemesis at her two fellow heritage Rhode Island Reds .
Then , to my astonishment , Carrie climbed into the box , brain downward , trail up and shortly , three chickens were a writhing egg of wrath . And inquiring mind may require to ask : How did Carrie intend to lay an nut after she had font planted herself in the nesting box ? !
Bruce Ingram
Now we humans may not see the reason behind such a brouhaha . After all , numerous other nesting boxes may exist in a coop , and fresh , sweet - smell bedclothes may be spread out about throughout .
But in the minds of many hens , only one corner can be for laying an bollock . And fair play ( meaningwaiting your turn ) does n’t exist in the chickenworld .
Peculiar Poultry Preferences
So why do hens seem to commonly desire ( perhaps “ demand ” would be the more precise verb ) the same box seat to deposit an bollock ? Kristin and Justin Duke operate on Mr. Animal Farm in Moneta , Virginia , and specialize in raising chicken and stooge .
“ From what I ’ve read and understand , it ’s an evolutionary adaption , ” Kristin Duke aver . “ One hen lays an egg there , and the next hen which comes along , hear the nut and thinks that must be a safe place to sit and lays her egg there . Before long , that special nesting corner becomestheplace to lay an eggs . ”
My wife , Elaine , and I have two runs . In one of them , the coop features three nest boxes in a quarrel against the back of the structure . The left boxful adjoins the left wall while the ripe corner has an open distance to its right hand . The box on the left is almost always the only one that check eggs .
Bruce Ingram
Rarely does the middle box harbour an eggs within it . And the right boxful , in the construction ’s 10 years of existence , has never contain the honor of being opt .
We trust that the left box became the original hot spot because of the security that the left wall and the building ’s back provides . A biddy can sit there , confront the construction ’s portal , and be instinctively aware that she only take to keep an eye on in front of her — the only direction that danger could possibly come .
Again , the flavour of safety that a sure nesting loge presents seems to be paramount in a hen ’s brain . Bruce Ingram
Arata70/Shutterstock
The Worst Possible War
Normal egg laying can plainly result in nesting box wars . However , thing can go nuclear quickly when one or more of the hens become broody .
“ Justin and I have two Ameraucanas that are both 6 or 7 yr previous , and they no longer lay testis of their own , ” Duke says . “ This class , they both went pensive at about the same metre . And they both demand the same box seat .
“ There was no point in trying to separate them . They both would go steal eggs that our other chickens had put and range those orchis back to and up into the nest , bicker all the time over the boxful . ”
This account has a happy ending , however . After the orchis hatched , both Ameraucanas sedately shared mama hen tariff . Neither one seemed to worry which chicks were theirs . The instinct to deal for and protect their offspring kicked in . That ’s often all it takes to make a broody biddy — or biddy — content .
Read more : Need a wimp henhouse ? Keep these considerations in mind .
Record Eggs
Duke has seen as many as four of her Silkies , which are a modest breed , in a nesting boxful at the same prison term . But I have never take note more than three of our Reds in a box seat at the same time .
However , Elaine and I may hold some sort of book for most orchis under a musing Red at the same time—20 !
The situation took space several years ago when Wednesday , then a 6 - month - old pullet , accidentally became pondering . Normally , from our experience , our broody Rhode Island Reds will crowd out eggs from a box once they have 12 to 14 eggs under them . Perhaps these ballock are ones a hen has sensed have “ go unsound ” or that another hen may have laid in the nest . It may also be that a random eggs just happens to be the odd one agitate out .
We were dismayed that Wednesday had so many eggs in the box , because it was quite exonerated from the many brown ovals start from all incline of her lower dead body that she was not successfully incubating six to eight of them .
Finally , one twenty-four hour period we witness the reason why so many orchis were present .
Another hen was model in the nest with Wednesday , and the latter was too inexperienced as a mother to impel the other hen out or to use her nib to roll out the redundant eggs . The only solution was to throw out eight or nine of the outer testis and remove Wednesday and the remain I to a ruminative playpen .
The Broody Pen Option
Duke and her married man prefer to allow their hen resolve their issues regarding use of the nesting boxes in their coop . However , sometimes for the sake of good will and peace on ground — and when a incubator becomes so confrontational with her fellow females that endless war is the norm — it ’s just best to transport the biddy to a broody playpen .
just stated , Elaine and I no longer harbor any false hopes that our biddy can settle their nesting box wars among themselves , specifically if one of them has become broody .
For good example : This retiring outflow , 4 - twelvemonth - previous Mary , our well - ever mother hen , went meditative for the fifth time . She is very predictable regarding her annual matronly humour , always seeming to decide between May 1st and 3rd to do what she does best — devotedly set on eggs for 21 days or so or until they dream up and then rear chicks .
Read more : you could help a broody biddy raise her chicks . Here ’s how .
The Basement Pen
Every spring , we even position up her penitentiary in late April in anticipation for what is to come .
That playpen is in our basement and comprise of two tarpaulin , both doubled up and put on top of each other on the level . A childproof fence is arranged in a 6 - ft - by-3 - pes rectangle on top of the two tarps , and the covering is an old screen door . A water boy and a tributary is placed within , and we ’re ready for chick .
This apparatus is inexpensive and works well for us . The fencing is leave over from when our two grandchild were young . And the cover door is just an old one that wore out and we happen to keep .
Frankly , the reasonableness we keep the pen in the basement is that we immensely enjoy witnessing the intact experience from day 20 onward .
Mary lightly clucks to the dame as they prove to break off their fashion out of an ballock . The cheep come from beneath her . Then , the glorious aurora when we see little hard-skinned puffball peer out from under their female parent .
Next , we abide by the first venture to the waterer and the affluent as Mary shows the doll where their nourishment is , meanwhile utter the food clucking .
use aside , a final and very important reason to polish off meditative hens from their flock is the refuge of the dame . Once , we left Mary inside the henhouse , and the first wench that hatched was immediately attacked and killed by the other hens . We do n’t ever want to have that horrible spectacle again .
But , again , the good way to stop nesting box wars between a broody and every other hen in the heap is to move the sitting distaff to her very own pen . Arata70 / Shutterstock
Bedding Options for Nest Boxes
Several possibilities exist for nesting box bedding . Elaine and I have tried sand and the traditional husk . We establish sand heavy and very difficult to withdraw from the box and henhouse trading floor . On the plus side , though , sand is extremely absorptive .
Like us , Duke favors straw . But Paul Hinlicky , who engage St. Gaul Farm in Catawba , Virginia , along with his married woman , prefers a third option .
“ Pine grazing are far superior to straw , ” he says . “ Just give several handfuls into a nesting box , and you have fragrant smelling , absorbent bedding . Plus , where we live , a bale of pine shavings cost $ 5 , while straw cost between $ 7 and $ 8 .
Hinlicky uses the deep - litter method for the henhouse floor and amodified version of it in the nesting boxes . “ When the nest box shavings become soiled , we just add a duet handful more of them , ” he says . “ So we do n’t have to empty out the nest box bed as often as we did when we used straw . ”
disregardless of bedding preferences , some multitude add lavender or mint to their cuddle boxes . These herbs aid suppress any foul odors . Other wimp fanciers position droppings boards under the roost and removethe wasteevery good morning , depositing it within a compost bin .
Ifyou’ve become aweary of the endless nesting box wars going on in your cubic yard … well , gosh , it just occur to me that there is no solution to ending these skirmishes ! I guess we all will just have to become used to them .
That is , of course , unless these battles need a broody biddy . Then , you might want to consider a reflective penitentiary .
Sidebar: Odor Control
Paul Hinlicky , who operates St. Gaul Farm in Catawba , Virginia , along with his wife , emphasizes that the best matter he has ever done to decrease odor has been to adapt the cryptic - litter method acting .
Basically , this direction system necessitate periodically treat soiled litter with multiple layers of fresh litter , often pine shavings . Doing so allows the pine paring to absorb the heavily nitrogen chicken waste material , make , in effect , a compost bin within a hencoop .
Hinlicky , however , prefers a different bedding , one that does n’t cost anything .
“ We gather up handbag of parting in the fall and lay aside them until we need them for the floor of our coup , ” he says . “ Every time the poop piles up , we just empty another bag of leaves into the star sign .
“ When it ’s finally time to remove the layers of pine shavings from our nesting box , we just throw them onto the floor before we bring leaves . The shavings are flossy and meld aright in . With this organization , there ’s no motive to make clean out the cage more than once or twice a year , and odor is never a trouble . ”
This article primitively appeared in the March / April 2021 issue ofChickensmagazine .
