Potty Dotty Puzzle!

Sue

Sue

New member
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Messages
789
Reaction score
0
Location
South West
I need some help please! This won't come as any surprise to a lot of people on here, but Potty Dotty is broody again! Things were looking up as she was laying an egg every day, then I realised what she was up to, she was laying her yearly 6 eggs as quick as she could so that she could spend the rest of the year broody! She was pulling out the occasional feather and leaving it in the nest box hoping that I wouldn't notice! I was removing them daily! Well, that's not my problem as being broody is what I expect from her. The puzzling thing is that I put her in the dog cage until the other hen has laid or obviously isn't going to lay that day, then I shut the house door and let Dotty out of the cage. My problem is that after I've done this, sometimes I go out and when I come back I can't find her anywhere! She can't go anywhere because it's a completely enclosed run. Then I open up the nest box and low and behold there's Dotty happily sitting in the nest box!!! Now, how did she get there? The house is a Green Frog with an automatic door, which is solid steel. I make sure this is completely closed before I let her out of the cage. The door goes down inside a lip on the inside of the house so not even I could open it by trying to push it up from the bottom as you can't get underneath it. But she is inside with the door shut. There are 4 air vents, but not only can't she get through these, but she wouldn't even be able to reach them. How does she get inside?

This isn't an Easter joke and it's not yet April 1st!!!! :? :-)09 :-)19

Please help!
 
That would just about be possible in my Green Frog, not that I could imagine a hen ever doing it! You can lock down the nestbox flap but I never bother as the coop is in a safe enclosed run.
A case for a webcam I think, Sue. Would make a good video for YouTube.
If Chris' suggestion is right, as I suppose it must be, it makes you realise how vulnerable hens could be to predators even when apparently locked safe in a coop. There was a sad post on here a while ago, about how a weasel or stoat had got in to a locked Eglu though the drainage hole at the base and killed a chicken.
 
chrismahon said:
Can she lift the lid of the nest box from outside Sue, then climb in that way?
Click to expand...


No Chris, she can't get in this way as I always lock the nest box. Even if I didn't lock it, it overlaps and is too high off the ground for her to even reach it. The house is on a raised slabbed area and the nest boxes overhand the edge so are even higher than if they were level with the rest of it. So she definitely doesn't get in this way!

I wish I had a webcam, but I haven't unfortunately!
 
Puzzle solved!! I knew it had to be something simple, but it wasn't until I went to check on them the other day that I realised what had been happening! We have an automatic light controlled door on the Green Frog where Dotty lives. So to close the door we have to cover the light sensor. My hubby make a black cover to go over the top and the door would close until we removed the cover. Usually when I went down, Dotty was inside the nest box and the door was closed. I went down the other day after leaving her earlier, making sure the door was closed before I let her out of the cage, and again she was in the nest box! The only difference this time was that the door was open! I then realised what had been happening. For some reason the light had been getting inside the cover intermittently, so previously the door had been closed, but the light then got inside the cover and opened the door, at which time Dotty had zoomed inside in a split second! The light had obviously then reduced again and the door closed, shutting her 'happily and snuggly' inside!!!! Much to her delight I expect! The other day when she was inside and the door was still open, I obviously just timed it right before the door closed again. :roll:
 
Fantastic, whole story made me laugh. She must have been really chuffed when door reopened for her :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top