Chicken Trouble

Little, Miss Henny Penny started out laying eggs in the nesting box like a good girl. Then she got lazy. 

I bought her from a feed store in Callahan after she had already started laying. She was raised in a crate and never roosted. Try as I might to teach her, the crazy bird just won't roost. 

She sleeps on the floor right outside the nesting boxes. One day she decided, "why do I need to back up 12 inches into the box? I'll just lay my egg right here"! Well, that's a problem for two reasons. One, it can be unsanitary because chickens poop when they sleep. We don't want poop on the eggs! That's never happened, but why risk it?! And, two, it's not convenient for me to reach the egg where she's laying it. 

I saw on a blog that you can use anything as a nesting box, so I thought I'd try a basket. I made it nice and fluffy with pine chips and sprinkled some Rosemary in it to make it smell nice! 

Turns out, she liked sleeping in it, but not laying in it. She actually got out of the basket and went in the nesting box! Success!! Did I just train a chicken? I guess we'll have to wait and see....