Laying eggs anywhere!

Chickababe · **Posted:** Tue May 29, 2012 8:22 pm

[/quote]

Well based on those times....it sounds like she might be a night time/early, early morning layer!

Any chance you can get up before light and see if she has laid an egg and, if by the time you get up, she hasn't...then move her into the nesting box?

Just taking on HH's suggestion of brainstorming! :-D

Cheers
Chicka-Dee[/quote]

I can have a look over the next couple of days. I get up earlier than the girls so will head outside before waking up the kids.

Chickababe · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 4:10 pm

Here's a link to the coop I bought off ebay.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RABBIT-HUTCH ... 0676599027

This morning she laid it in the biggest bit of poop from roosting over night. I have wiped the egg clean with moist paper towel and the egg shell looks a little darker from the poop in that part. Is it still safe to eat?

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Hi, Chickababe

,

Here is the link to my post on Best And Correct Method To Clean Dirty Eggs.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18853

Do your girls get locked up and sleep in the main house over night? Does young Peaches have access to the separate nesting box when she needs to lay???

Chicka-Dee · **Joined:** Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:12 am **Posts:** 1194

Chickababe wrote:

This morning she laid it in the biggest bit of poop from roosting over night. I have wiped the egg clean with moist paper towel and the egg shell looks a little darker from the poop in that part. Is it still safe to eat?

So are you saying she'd laid it before you had gotten up/by the time you checked on her this morning?

As you said you get up before they do.

If this is the case then maybe you can try and break her cycle by changing her location for a couple of days. That should stop her from laying and then reintroduce her back into the coup and see how she goes after that.

As far as your poopy egg goes I would suggest to eat it as fast. See the CSIRO link about dirty eggs.

http://www.csiro.au/Outcomes/Food-and-A ... ature.aspx

Once you introduce moisture to the egg surface, the egg pores absorbs the dirt on the surface into the egg centre, Sort of like wiping dirt off your own skin. If you just wipe it then the dirt will go into your pore and a pimple will form because your white cells will try & kill the germs sitting in the pore. Except in an eggs case, you can't clean the dirt out like you can with human skin, so the dirt just stays in there and causes germs (like samolella) to grow & you can get very sick from an egg which has salmonella forming.

But look on the bright side...if you have to use it straight away then at least you gt a yummy brekky for the day :-D

Cheers
Chicka-Dee

Chickababe · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 8:04 pm

Thanks PP she is locked up in the mezzanine hen house at night, it's completely fox proof. She has access to the nesting box as its on the end of the mezzanine hen house.

Thank you for posting the information on egg cleaning. Very useful information.

Thanks Chicka Dee thats a good idea, if I make another coop maybe I should rehouse her for a couple of days.

Do you think by removing the roost may make a difference. Before roosting they used to cram into one of the nest boxes and maybe they will go back to that and lay on the other side. One could only hope.

Hens and Hobbits · **Posted:** Wed May 30, 2012 8:19 pm

Hi, Chickababe,

If they are all sleeping in the nesting box, then that would have to be cleaned out every morning, as you don't won't them laying in their poop, especially in summer when there are flies buzzing around and on the poop, may lead to the poor chookies getting fly blown

Though the nesting box is a cosy place to sleep in this weather, roosting is good for their feet, especially if they are protected from the elements and predators in their mezzanine hen house.

Chickababe · **Posted:** Thu May 31, 2012 7:55 pm

This morning I braved the cold and went to look at the state of the nation in the mezzanine to see where and if Peaches had laid an egg. It was 5.15 am. I should have still been [smilie=sleep.gif]

I wasn't suprised to find an egg. It was still a slightly warm so I think she had laid it within the last half hour. At least this time it was not in a pile of poop. woohoo4

She had laid it just near the door. She still has an aversion to the nest. Why I don't have a clue. It looks cozy to me.

wickedwings · **Posted:** Thu May 31, 2012 7:56 pm

I wonder if she can't find it in the dark?

Chicka-Dee · **Joined:** Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:12 am **Posts:** 1194

I just had an idea

After she as gone to bed for the night, go and take her out and put her in a seperate cage to sleep in for the night and (if she doesnt lay an egg by sunrise in her temporary over night home) then put her bak into the pen so she can go and lay her egg.

Worth a try, to try and shift her "motions" forward a couple of hours.

What do you think?

Do you have. Dare cage she can sleep in for the night?

Cheers
Chicka-Dee

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Hi, Chick-Dee

,

It is FREEZING in the YARRA VALLEY especially overnight at this time of year; poor little Peaches

needs her friends to keep her warm, she will surely catch her death if she sleeps on her lonesome.

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