From Two Stories to An Efficiency Apartment

It's puzzling. But, it was a conscious choice. There were other choices.

For as long as I have had chickens, there were two boxes stacked on a table in the dog pen. Chickens like to go high to get away from predators. All four of them slept on top of the higher Rubbermaid bin. Then, when I had to get new boxes, there was no room on top and below the tarp. Then, the three left slept in the top box. No one wanted in the bottom box. When they started laying, no one slept in the bottom box. They laid in the bottom box. It's been that way since 2009.

Finally, Dominique had enough. I supposed she got sick of too much poop in her sleeping box up top. Maybe? At any rate, she decided to sleep in the bottom box. This worried me.

She had it all figured out. She sleeps on the right side of the bottom box and lays eggs on left side. However, she does not lay in the pine straw, even when I now make sure it is clean. Every day, I spread it out and makes sure poop is not on top. She kicks it all over to the sleep side and lays eggs on the bare plastic bin.

Let me straighten this out. She slept on top and laid on the bottom. When exbf could no longer change out her bedding,  I tried to fix her bedding by carrying two handsful of pinestraw and laying it on top of the old stuff. Sometimes, I turned over the poopy stuff and put more clean straw on top. When I was shaking and crying for that week, I did nothing except feed her and check on her water. Oh, I did look for an egg.

Since I have never heard of a hen doing this, laying and sleeping in the same box, I am turning to you chicken people.

An update: This is Sept 10, but Blogger said this was posted on Sept 9. No, that is when I wrote it.

Update....grrr......when I did the update, blogger did and changed the date to Sept. 10, today's date.

Your turn
Yes, I know chickens are predictable and at the same time unpredictable. Have you ever heard of hens who choose to sleep and lay in the same box? Maybe you have a stranger story.