At about 18 weeks, I like to introduce the nesting boxes to the pullets. The Welsummers are much louder brawkers than the Orloffs, so they were loudly expressing their excitement to the new addition inside their coop. Until now, I have had the nesting box blocked off, inside the temporary coop, to keep the pullets from thinking this is a sleeping area. The Welsummers are 19 weeks now, heading into 20 weeks on Monday. They are "of age" to start laying eggs. While, in reality it may take another few weeks, but we will need to start checking the box at least once a day. Our Orloff pullets don't start laying eggs until at least 24 weeks.
I was struggling with ideas on ways to reduce the size of the box to cozy it up a little. The box's inside dimensions are 11" by 11" (depth and height) by 16" (width). There is no lip to hold in the hay and hey, 16" wide is much to wide for a standard sized hen. Even in our first coop, with 12" by 12" by 12", we will frequently find two hens in one box. And yes, they will both be laying eggs. Even though they have two boxes available!
Back to this coop and its oversized nesting box, I had a hardly used cat litter box that I had purchased for my kittens a few years back. It's too small for them as cats, and it hasn't been used for a very long time. I bleached solutioned it first, then after drying it out, I raw vinegar solutioned it. When I say raw, I mean home-made strong apple cider vinegar. I think it will do the trick, but we will see.
I placed hay in the litter box inside the nesting box. It will either work, or it won't. If not, I'll look for other solutions. For example, I can buy pre-made nesting boxes at the farm store. I'm just trying to save money since the hens won't be in this particular coop for the long haul. The three hens that are only producing occasionally, will be in the freezer soon enough. That will free up one of our home-made coops with built-in nesting boxes that work much better.
As for my gardening news, the garlic that I planted early last month is starting to sprout. I was waiting (and waiting) and thinking, well, perhaps I screwed up. So I planted Cilantro in the pot about two weeks ago. 
When, all of a sudden, today, I see a little garlic sprouty shoot up. I've read that garlic must "winter" over in order to clove up. So, I guess it makes sense that the garlic took this long to sprout. The first photo is the same as the second, but the second has a yellow hexagon on the right-hand side to draw your focus to the spout. LOL
When, all of a sudden, today, I see a little garlic sprouty shoot up. I've read that garlic must "winter" over in order to clove up. So, I guess it makes sense that the garlic took this long to sprout. The first photo is the same as the second, but the second has a yellow hexagon on the right-hand side to draw your focus to the spout. LOL
