Well, it was only the other day I put a round of birds down to breed. One of these pair's is a highly anticipated mating, as it will very hopefully produce my first ever fallow chicks. I only own two split birds, a hen and a cock, so I cannot change the pairing around at all. The hen is in perfect condition as far as I can see. She lay two eggs in the aviary, and was digging a hole in the ground and being quite protective of her little nest. I have tried to breed these birds once before, and I am having the same problem as I did last time.

 

The hen has been in the breeding cage for 3 days now. She gave me one egg on the floor, on the first day. She is completely comfortable in the box, and went straight in when I first put her in there. But, even though she goes in the nest, she has been spending alot of time outside. She sits in the corner of the cage, and chews at the newspaper. She has completely torn half a sheet, and is very mischievous when she hides under it. I was considering using shavings, but I don't want to encourage her to lay on the floor. Last time I bred them, the same thing happened. I don't know what to do. The hen has never had chicks before. Any Ideas?

Put a nestbox on the floor in that spot with the sliding door section completely open. it will give her some refuge and a concave she can lay her eggs in. If you can organise a sliding door section thats about 2 inches ( 50mm) high ) she can hop over that in and out to lay her eggs in the nest.

Put a nestbox on the floor in that spot with the sliding door section completely open. it will give her some refuge and a concave she can lay her eggs in. If you can organise a sliding door section thats about 2 inches ( 50mm) high ) she can hop over that in and out to lay her eggs in the nest.

 

 

Putting another box in won't fix it I don't think. The cage is the smallest of my breeding cages, and has an inbuilt box. I don't particularly like the style of it... but I don't have anything better to use. Would putter a peice of wood in the place she is chewing the paper help?

Have you a spare concave you can put there perhaps ?

I don't have any concave's.... would a tissuebox or ice-cream container of some sort be okay? Here is a picture of the cage:

 

If you do not have a concave, be creative. Get the lip off a margarine container and use that. The point of the concave is to give the hen somewhere to lay but not have the eggs roll around on a flat surface.

 

If you put the lid of the margarine container top up in the corner, sprinkle some shaving over it, not too many, she might lay in there. If you do not have shavings, get some paper and cut it up into little pieces. This should suffice.

put a peaice of red gum in their she will make her own nest and this will also give he a insentive to sit the whole cycle thought just a peaice about as round as your hands making a circle or love heart with your fingers and a foot long

she will have to chew the nest if shes not ready she wont chew it out and isnt really interested close the nest box off if you try this