Household Experiment: Nesting Box Curtains

Recently, we realized that our poor Poppy is no longer just molting - she is being picked on. We've noted in the past that several of the girls are not real tolerant of others being in the nesting box when they want to settle in to have their egg; despite there being two boxes, everyone MUST use the one nesting box.

Past week or so, one or the other of us has found an egg mid floor in the coop when going to turn off their light at night. (The girls have taken to part of them laying during the morning, the rest in the late afternoon.)

So I decided to try this tip I've seen various places about the internet - a curtain over the front of the nesting boxes to give privacy and keep others from picking on them.

So I took some heavier scrap fabric and nailed it over the opening of the favorite box and left the other box open.  I cut the fabric into strips so they can get in and out easily.  This experiment is both short and long term - the short term is  whether they will use the curtained box, or switch to a new favorite.  The long term is to see if they will leave the nesting chicken alone if they cannot see her, and possibly go to the other box.

Of course, it is also to help miss Poppy stop getting her feathers pulled out.

So, we'll see tomorrow how many eggs are in which box!