Older hen guarding nesting area.

[Chicken Man Can]

I can kinda see why. That upper area is very small with no room to manage pecking order.
The whole setup is small for 2 older and 4 newer birds.
Where do they sleep?

Well there were all laying up there just fine for a while, taking turns on the eggs. The two oldies sleep in one nesting box each, the newies sleep under the loft. Even the oldies lay most of their eggs on the floor now, its odd.

 

[Mrs. K]

Chickens are rather notional about where they lay, and it is not uncommon for them to declare a new spot.

If I don't like the new spot, I block it off - so they can't get in there, and generally they seem to find the spot I do want them laying in. You don't have to block it long - just a couple of days. But is needs to be well blocked off, they will be pretty determined to get in there.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

Well there were all laying up there just fine for a while, taking turns on the eggs. The two oldies sleep in one nesting box each, the newies sleep under the loft. Even the oldies lay most of their eggs on the floor now, its odd.

Hmmm...not a great set up, to say the least.
Small for number of birds.
No roosts, where it's better for them to sleep.
Sleeping in the nests is not a good idea because of the night poops.

 

[Chicken Man Can]

Hmmm...not a great set up, to say the least.
Small for number of birds.
No roosts, where it's better for them to sleep.
Sleeping in the nests is not a good idea because of the night poops.

Its more spacious than it looks in the photos. I didn't think they would sleep in the boxes, its not a big deal. They all seem to sleep up in the loft at night, its basically one big roost.

 

[Chicken Man Can]

Chickens are rather notional about where they lay, and it is not uncommon for them to declare a new spot.

If I don't like the new spot, I block it off - so they can't get in there, and generally they seem to find the spot I do want them laying in. You don't have to block it long - just a couple of days. But is needs to be well blocked off, they will be pretty determined to get in there.

Mrs K

I think I figured it out. The chickens are keen, and if you keep taking all their eggs from one place they find another. Now if they lay any on the ground I take them all. For the ones on the loft where I want them, I take all but 1 or 2, so they still see it as a nesting area. This has worked very well so far, and most of they laying is up stairs.

 

[Hallockhollow]

I'm having the same issue with a hen chasing out the girls lowest on the pecking order. I have 10 hens. Two were born in March and eight were born in April. The one chasing the others is older and has been laying for five weeks in the nesting boxes. She and her broodmate are the only ones that lay in the boxes. The others that have started to lay are scattered in the litter at the bottom of the coop. They've even laid from the roosting bars at night. She's attacked the other pullets while they were in the nesting boxes so that they escaped out of the coop. She's also chased them out of the coop before they got close to the boxes.

I have four boxes for the ten hens. What should I do? I just added curtains today, not sure if that will help.