Egg Eating

[so lucky]

How would a person go about encouraging the rest of the girls to let the new girl up on the roost? One of my newer girls sleeps on the lower roost by herself, her "litter mate" having taken up with the old ladies. I feel so sorry for her, and fear she will be really cold soon, as this low roost is in front of the screened opening. (Sorry, Mary, I'm not meaning to hijack your thread)

 

[ninnymary]

Yes Steve my speckle sussex is one of the 3 new pullets. I think she sleeps on the floor of the enclosed roosting area. I don't think she sleeps in the nest box. She is the gentlest of the group and is at the bottom of the pecking order. During the day she spends alot of time by the door at the top of the ladder.

Today I kept checking every 5 minutes for my red sex link to lay the egg. I wanted to see if it might be her eating it after she laid it. I noticed my sussex kept getting close to the curtain on the box and then got inside the other nest box. She stayed there for a couple of minutes pecking. As soon as my red sex link laid the egg she left the box and the sussex attempted to go in there! Good thing I was there watching and was able to save the egg.

Mary

 

[digitS']

I can't think how to encourage acceptance on the roost other than placing the new bird up there after dark, repeatedly.

They have to want to be there - nowhere is the pecking order more apparent than on the roost or at the feeder. The "rooster" can keep things in order and at relative peace if you have a rooster.

Nothing should be sleeping in a nestbox. The one that does will not only poop in it but will likely eat any eggs left there.

Steve

 

[ninnymary]

Steve, I don't leave eggs in the box for too long. Usually they are picked while they are still warm or at least withing an hour. Their space is limited but I do think all 7 hens can fit in the roost. Do hens have a problem if they are touching each other while on the roost? If she is sleeping on the floor and not the box is that ok?

Mary

 

[digitS']

Village chickens in SE Asia sleep under buildings. I don't know that it's all the chickens ...

My feeling was that if a chicken was sleeping on the floor, she wasn't living out her life as a proper chicken. Usually, that meant I wasn't caring properly for the roost and needed to expand it. She may also need assertiveness training.

Chickens will cozy up on the roost when it's cold enuf.

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

My 19 lavender orpingtons are refusing to use the roost. Weird-they did last winter. Maybe it has to get cold? I place them on it and they stay but will not go up themselves. I know they can get there.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree with Steve. The place I see the most brutality is on the roosts as they are settling in for the night. It's normally a hen lower in the pecking order picking on an immature chicken. Once they all mature enough to get into the pecking order it usually settles down. I've got a separate roost, a little lower than the main roosts, horizontally separated a bit, and higher than the nests to give them a safe place to go. So Lucky, when she matures a little more she'll find her way into the main roost like her mate.

During the summer mine spread out on the roosts. In the winter they normally sleep crowded up next to each other, sharing the warmth. I'm not there as they are settling in for the night but I do know the weaker ones are the last to go to the roosts. When I go down there to lock them up for the night and turn the lights on, some will start pecking their neighbors until I turn the light back off.

Mary, I don't know of any harm to a chicken that sleeps on the floor. Some Silkies do it all their life since they can't fly. You don't have to schedule her an appointment with Dr. Phil or bring out the big guns and show her reruns of Oprah to work on her psyche. She'll be OK.

Cat I don't have a clue what is going on with yours. Normally they like to roost once they learn how. Something has changed, maybe something you'll never know. Maybe an owl tried to get in through a window and frightened them? Maybe a bat? Maybe a whole lot of things totally different than a predator. You can try putting a few on the roost at night and see if they readjust, or just let it go until something else changes. As I said, I don't know of any harm that comes to them from sleeping on the floor as long as they stay out of the nests.

 

[Smart Red]

@ninnymary, I have moved the rooster at night so he was next to the wall and then put my meek EE between him and the wall where the others cannot bother her. That seemed to work well and after a few times doing this, she was back on the roost with the rest of the flock by choice (theirs and hers).

I still have one Cochin who seems to prefer the lower roost. I've seen her get up the steps to the higher roost, but getting down has always been a problem for her. I suspect that is why she's on the lower roost. Perhaps the colder weather will change her mind so she cuddles with the other girls and I'll be lifting her down every morning like we used to do.

 

[so lucky]

Well, I may have just created a bunch of trouble for myself, but when I went to the feed store this morning, they had pullets for sale in there. so I bought 3. I put them in the chicken house after running the older ones out of the house and pen. They are big enough to defend themselves, I think. We will see. I got two barred rocks and a red sex link, which is more gold than red.
Anyway, in a perfect world, they will roost on the lower roost with the lonely Sussex.
In an imperfect world, I'll have bloody chickens camping in my basement.

 

[canesisters]