The Lay of the Coop

The antics of chickens and their egg laying habits can certainly be amusing! This morning as I opened up the coop I found that one chicken had broken in to a nest box that had been closed for the night. Of course it was Rebel, she is aptly named. Why must I shut up the nesting boxes at night, well in one word ...Silkies! The silkie chickens go broody so often even in winter. If I shut up the nesting boxes so they can't settle in overnight this seems to help curb broody behavior a bit. Once they've settled into a nest box, with or without eggs, it doesn't seem to take long for the silkie bantams to get their brood on and want to stay put and wait for chicks.

As for laying habits, most of the chickens like the larger array of nest boxes on one wall. A few like the smaller group of nest boxes on the other wall and a couple of chickens prefer to lay their eggs in the bag of shavings. I gave in to that habit and almost always leave a part bag of shavings in one corner.

I'm glad we're starting to get more eggs each day with the days staying light a bit longer. When the evenings were closing in at 4:15 we were getting maybe 3-5 eggs a day. Now we are up to 8-14 and it stays light until about 5:15.

There's been a break in, someone just had to lay her egg before these boxes opened for the day.

Of course the culprit is Rebel!

This smaller group of nest boxes does not get shut at night since the silkies don't like this side I guess Rebel doesn't either.

Some shun the nest boxes all together and prefer the bag of shavings.

About 2 days worth of eggs, much better than we had been getting during December and most of January.