Nest box curtain material

[TwoCrows]

Nope, unfortunately she has had a thing about putting eggs in weird places since she first started laying several weeks ago. First I tried adding a new, curtain-less box in an area where I was finding little pullet eggs in the shavings; the curtains were a second step.

I thought the curtains would work faster than this because she and another pullet have been escaping past me when I go in/out and they very deliberately look for any awful dark hole they can squeeze into - more than once I've had to grab their little tails just as they're about to dart into something bad. A few times they've slipped past when it was too muddy for me to keep up so I grabbed my alpha roo and launched him out the door after them (which did actually work; he's a smart boy). One of those two pullets is now laying in the curtained box and seems less inclined to running off...really hoping the other one takes a liking to the curtains soon. I've never had pullets act like this before.


Multiple times since putting the curtain on - she's quite determined so far not to sit in there for more than a brief time. She makes what seems like happy noises for a bit and shuffles around inside, and then if I go to leave she slides back out. There's also a ceramic egg in there even when there aren't everyone else's eggs.

Who knows what goes in these birds heads. Well I think you are on a good path with the curtains, eventually they all should get used to using the boxes. The girl that isn't using them now, well she may just remain a bit quirky about it all, hopefully she finds a place she feels comfortable using and it works for you too.

 

[Acre4Me]

I stained the largest nest box a dark color (it also received the most natural sunlight). Then, I used old feed bags to make a triangle of sorts (so it was a square folded) and screwed that onto the opening. There is a smaller opening now, it is darker inside, some birds love it!

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well, it has been several months of nest box curtains now. They are still a big hit with everyone except the one pullet I was really hoping would be convinced. I still pick up a little green egg from in front of the nest box each day. Until recently, anyway. Now she's broody and still not in the box (you can see the curtains just in the edge of the pic...).