Why not put hay in the nests now so they'll know it's there when they start looking for a nice place to lay eggs ? I would even go so far as to put some artificial eggs in the nests...Maybe some sort of Easter egg leftovers , weighted, , colored white ? No need to put colored eggs in there...they might decide to give up trying to lay similar eggs, OR bust something straining to lay YOUR kind of eggs..*grin* Your chickens are establishing a pecking order...and it can get kinda bloody at times....I've heard you can put some raw hamburger in their feed if they are pecking each other in regular circumstances, but don't know if this would help your case...Try looking up Pecking Order ....I used to have chickens all the time,. and well remember pecking order times..Think we just took the beleaguered hen and put her alone for a few days. It doesn't take them too long to get it straightened out.....Jeannie T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Thu, 19 May 2011 06:16:46 -0500 Doug Crim <ddcrim@gmail.com> writes: We have certainly been enjoying watching our chickens and will soon put some hay in the nest boxes for those that feel like nesting. It's a bit early for them to begin laying, so we'll see how soon they start earning their keep. Something interesting began yesterday. While watching them roam freely, we noticed one of the Wyandots (sp?) seemed to wander far away from the rest of the flock. When she'd get close to the others, they'd seem to gang up on her and begin pecking her. When we put them in the coop for the night, she > was attacked repeatedly. Difficult to understand that. Has anyone seen this sort of thing before? Anything we can do ? The Dougster ____________________________________________________________ Penny Stock Soaring 3000% Sign up for Free to find out what the next 3000% Stock Winner is! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4dd5f712e509a235b5m06duc

A pecking order has been established but it's hard to understand why just that one hen... actually, it's sad to watch. As a matter of self-preservation, she keeps away from the other chickens when they are free to roam. When we penned them up last night, she went to a nest in an effort to avoid getting pecked. This was after Sherry fed them. She choose not to feed with the rest. I asked Sherry to go ahead and feed her separately and all was well. We aren't set up to keep her separate other than leave her in the coop while the others are allowed to roam. I find this remarkable. Like I said, it's sad to watch. The plan for this weekend is to get a bale of hay to put in the nest boxes. They are too young to start laying but I agree that we might as well let them get accustomed to using the nest boxes. :-)* On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 11:50 PM, <askgranny@juno.com> wrote: > Why not put hay in the nests now so they'll know it's there when they > start looking for a nice place to lay eggs ? I would even go so far as to > put some artificial eggs in the nests...Maybe some sort of Easter egg > leftovers , weighted, , colored white ? No need to put colored eggs in > there...they might decide to give up trying to lay similar eggs, OR bust > something straining to lay YOUR kind of eggs..*grin* > > Your chickens are establishing a pecking order...and it can get kinda > bloody at times....I've heard you can put some raw hamburger in their > feed if they are pecking each other in regular circumstances, but don't > know if this would help your case...Try looking up Pecking Order ....I > used to have chickens all the time,. and well remember pecking order > times..Think we just took the beleaguered hen and put her alone for a few > days. It doesn't take them too long to get it straightened > out.....Jeannie T > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > On Thu, 19 May 2011 06:16:46 -0500 Doug Crim <ddcrim@gmail.com> writes: > We have certainly been enjoying watching our chickens and will soon put > some hay in the nest boxes for those that feel like nesting. It's a bit > early for them to begin laying, so we'll see how soon they start earning > their keep. > Something interesting began yesterday. While watching them roam freely, > we noticed one of the Wyandots (sp?) seemed to wander far away from the > rest of the flock. When she'd get close to the others, they'd seem to > gang up on her and begin pecking her. When we put them in the coop for > the night, she > > was attacked repeatedly. Difficult to understand that. Has anyone > seen this sort of thing before? Anything we can do ? The Dougster > ____________________________________________________________ > Penny Stock Soaring 3000% > Sign up for Free to find out what the next 3000% Stock Winner is! > http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4dd5f712e509a235b5m06duc > > > > > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mbousman1/memory.htm > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MEMORY-LANE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >