Nesting boxes and golf balls

Fake eggs have several purposes.... baiting young pullets, deterring egg eaters, spreading the love...some do not need to use them.
I use them full time always because I have a high bird to nest ratio and believe it often helps spread the love.

DonHess said:

My fake egg-golf balls I believe have been unnecessary. I have never had an egg kicked out nor any egg-eating hens. I used golf balls as a prevention, as suggested by this site. For me, I doubt it was necessary.

Don

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That’s the thing with living animals and behaviors isn’t it? You never know for sure what would have happened if you had done it differently. I agree, for a lot of us some of these recommendations aren’t necessary, things would be fine without them. And sometimes you take precautions and it doesn’t stop the behavior anyway, like my pullet that is laying in the corner of the coop with fake eggs in the nests and older hens to show her where to lay.

The reason these recommendations are here is that they often help. For some they are not necessary, for some they don’t solve or prevent the problem. But a lot of the time they make it better for many people.

I have one golf ball in each of my three nesting boxes. Coop has only four young birds, coming up on 5 months age next week.

Should I leave it as is, or is there a better thought on this? In guessing they're all going to use just one of the three nesting boxes, based on what I've read here, but that's how the coop came pre-configured. Since the boxes appear quite small, I've thought about removing one divider to make a luxury box.

EasterEggDrew said:

I have one golf ball in each of my three nesting boxes. Coop has only four young birds, coming up on 5 months age next week.

Should I leave it as is, or is there a better thought on this? In guessing they're all going to use just one of the three nesting boxes, based on what I've read here, but that's how the coop came pre-configured. Since the boxes appear quite small, I've thought about removing one divider to make a luxury box.

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I would leave one nest without a fake egg.
This is my suggestion because I had one pullet who refused to lay in a nest at first until I took the fake egg out, she quickly got over it tho.
I wouldn't sweat it too much....they may still lay all over the place until they 'get it'.
Ya just never know, until you know.....and sometimes not even then-haha!

Not sure about the divider, pics and dimensions of your nests please?

EasterEggDrew said:

I have one golf ball in each of my three nesting boxes. Coop has only four young birds, coming up on 5 months age next week.

Should I leave it as is, or is there a better thought on this? In guessing they're all going to use just one of the three nesting boxes, based on what I've read here, but that's how the coop came pre-configured. Since the boxes appear quite small, I've thought about removing one divider to make a luxury box.

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I have 8, 6 full size and 2 Silkies with 3 nest boxes. I had enough room for 2 @ 12" wide and the last one is only about 8" wide, I thought the Silkies might like the small one. As it turns out, the Welsummer uses the small nest, the EE uses the middle nest and the other 4 use the first nest. The Slikies use the corner of the coop on the floor.

Yes, it’s easier to have a valid useful opinion if we have a few more details. As Tomphot shows hens can lay eggs in pretty small areas, I’ve seen hens hide nests in areas smaller than that. If I have broody hens hatch in a nest I want the nest to be larger, the whole brooding and hatching process just goes better with a bit of extra room. But if all you use them for is laying eggs, they can be smaller. I don’t know enough to suggest whether or not to remove a partition. I’d need to know size and if they will be hatching chicks in them.