Any one have chickens from eglu?

[mummychicken]

I thought it was just ours, but our girls don't roost, they nest. This has resulted in them becoming bald (not through molting) on their chests because they are sitting in their own poo at night. According to the vet, poo is high in ammonia and is literally eating their feathers.

I have recently come across someone else with eglu chickens who has the same problem.

Any one else?

Yes, mine have started doing this too. I am assuming it is because of the cold weather as they were happily using the perches before. Mine seem fine but I read on the Omlet forum that you can put a football in the nestbox to encourage them to roost on the perches instead. Maybe try that?

We've had chickens in the past that have nested rather than roosted. We've physically moved them onto a roost after putting them to bed at night, and after a while they seemed to get the message! I have to say I'm a bit surprised that the vet thinks it is ammonia in the poo making them bald because we also have ducks, which don't roost at all (too big for one thing!) and they've never had a problem with baldness. Also, never seen it in our nesting chickens.

Sure your hens aren't broody? A broody hen will pluck her own tummy/chest feathers to line the nest, and also to incubate eggs next to her skin.

Definitely not broody or a seasonal thing as they do it all year and have done ever since we got them (over 2 years).

We went through a whole range of "what could it be's.." from broody, mites to moulting and the Vet's theory seems to be the one that makes sense as they their chest feathers were quite shitty!! (Daisy do ducks poo in their nest?)

We have solved the problem by covering up the nest at night. I was just wondering whether it was the way eglu chickens were raised (eg no older hen to copy)and if it was a common thing with them.

Yes, they do IME!

I have silkies and they never roost on perches - they all sleep in a heap on the floor. This is fairly common to the breed IME however I've never had a problem with soiled or lost feathers.

Mine roost onthe perches. Omlet. They do pull each others feathers so have bald bums