So many broody hens!
Hens do sometimes get “broody”, which means they need to sit on their eggs day and night so they can hatch. We have always had one or two, here or there. A broody hen will come out of her box only one time per day to have a bit of food, a sip of water, and to lay one day’s worth of chicken poop. Then she goes right back to her work sitting on eggs.
But somehow this spring I have SEVEN of them all at once! This wouldn’t be a problem, except that I have only six nesting boxes for the flock to lay their eggs. Before they all went broody, each girl would take her turn, waiting for her sister to lay her egg and leave the nesting box. There was an orderly progression to the whole thing, and at the end of the day I would pick up 3-6 eggs from each box.
With so many broody at once, it is mayhem! The laying hens have to crawl on top of and behind the broody residents. Six nesting boxes is not nearly enough.
So we purchased and assembled a kit to expand another three boxes. I actually really like this design, which is partially metal and partially plastic. We have had no end of trouble with the access bars in front of our existing boxes. Even though the 1x2 boards are SUPER strong, they have broken at the point where they are screwed in. So I hope the new design with the plastic will be better. (Plus it is tucked more into the corner, so I do not think as many birds will fly down on it when leaving their upper roosts.)
These two hens are constantly sharing the same box.
All of these girls are part of the Broody group. They are not happy with Steve for messing with their equipment.
The idea with the part that lifts up is that eggs will “roll” toward the front for collection. That might work eventually, but initially we will be filling the boxes with pine shavings since that is what they are accustomed to, which will slow the roll feature.
The Chinese instructions promise “Happy chickens”, we will see.
I forced three of the birds into the new boxes - they only lasted a few minutes before returning to their old spots. Volume ON for the video below where you can hear the entire flock’s displeasure with the whole project.
Time will tell if we start seeing any eggs in the new boxes!
