Recently there has been a lot of drama around the nesting boxes in the morning. We've narrowed it down to one of our newer hens that recently started laying as being the primary culprit. She is displaying some strange behavior that I have not personally seen before and it seems to go beyond normal drama over the favorite nesting box.
The hen in question is doing a constant sweep of the coop and nesting boxes to block others from using them or kicking them out, even after she has already laid. There is a crazy amount of squabbling going on the coop as the others try to use the nesting boxes and this particular hen keeps making the egg laying song as she is blocking everyone.
This morning it got so bad, she was preventing our Prairie Bluebell Egger from laying, so I locked her out of the coop to give the other hen some privacy to lay. This sent her into an absolute panic. She was freaking out and trying to find any way possible to get back into the coop and nesting boxes. At one point, I thought she was going to hang herself trying to stick her head through the fence around the run and some chicken wire under the coop trying to gain access to the nesting boxes. I could tell she was also considering an attempt to jump over the fence.
What is interesting is she is showing absolutely zero signs of broodiness and she lays daily. Once everyone has laid, it is like a switch goes off and it is no longer her concern for the rest of the day, absolute silence. The only thing that is quite evident is the hormones are running high with this hen. She runs up and squats for anything and everything within her general vicinity - dogs, people, airplanes, birds flying overhead, you name it.
I've tried curtains, dividers, training eggs, etc. in an attempt to calm things down, but nothing has proven successful at deescalating this daily struggle. We've even had other hens try to lay, then give up until the next day due to the situation.
Any thoughts or ideas on what might going on here and anything I can try to knock this down a bit?
The hen in question is doing a constant sweep of the coop and nesting boxes to block others from using them or kicking them out, even after she has already laid. There is a crazy amount of squabbling going on the coop as the others try to use the nesting boxes and this particular hen keeps making the egg laying song as she is blocking everyone.
This morning it got so bad, she was preventing our Prairie Bluebell Egger from laying, so I locked her out of the coop to give the other hen some privacy to lay. This sent her into an absolute panic. She was freaking out and trying to find any way possible to get back into the coop and nesting boxes. At one point, I thought she was going to hang herself trying to stick her head through the fence around the run and some chicken wire under the coop trying to gain access to the nesting boxes. I could tell she was also considering an attempt to jump over the fence.
What is interesting is she is showing absolutely zero signs of broodiness and she lays daily. Once everyone has laid, it is like a switch goes off and it is no longer her concern for the rest of the day, absolute silence. The only thing that is quite evident is the hormones are running high with this hen. She runs up and squats for anything and everything within her general vicinity - dogs, people, airplanes, birds flying overhead, you name it.
I've tried curtains, dividers, training eggs, etc. in an attempt to calm things down, but nothing has proven successful at deescalating this daily struggle. We've even had other hens try to lay, then give up until the next day due to the situation.
Any thoughts or ideas on what might going on here and anything I can try to knock this down a bit?
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