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Just realized I was over-cleaning my nesting boxes for months
I kept scrubbing out the straw and washing the boxes with diluted bleach every single week. Thought I was being super clean. Then last Sunday I noticed my hens stopped laying in the boxes and were hiding eggs in the bushes instead. My neighbor who's kept chickens for 15 years walked over and asked why my coop smelled like a swimming pool. She said the bleach smell was scaring them off and they'd rather lay anywhere else. Switched to just swapping dirty straw and using a vinegar spray once a month. They're back in the boxes after 4 days. Anyone else fall for the over-sanitizing trap?
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faithbaker29d ago
My friend with 30 birds told me the same thing after I bleached for three months straight. I tried the vinegar spray once a month like @troyp37 suggested and my hens stopped hiding eggs in the brush pile. That bleach mistake cost me two weeks of hunting for hidden eggs in the bushes before they trusted the nesting boxes again.
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