All eight of my hens are laying in the same two nests...?

[Jezahu]

I must admit that I haven't actually seen any lay their eggs. I just come in and there they are. I have 8 Red Star hens and they are 19 weeks old and we got our first eggs on Saturday, August 11 and we had 5 eggs together in the same nesting box. Then none on Sunday, 3 in the same box on Monday, 3 in the same box on Tuesday and today, Wednesday, there were 3 in the same box and 2 on the ground right next to it in a "nest" on the floor. We have enough boxes for all of them but they seem to be all using the same 4 boxes and not using the other 4 at all. Then all I the eggs are I the same two spots. So we've gotten 16 eggs in 5 days in two spots.

What should I do?

 

[7L Farm]

Make a big omelet. LOL Hey look at the bright side your getting eggs & you only have to pick them up out of two boxes.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Completely normal. Up to 9 hens will lay in a single nest. It's their instinct at work to build a clutch. A dozen hens rarely use more than 2 or 3 nests.

 

[Jezahu]

So can I put a box on the floor where I found the two today in hopes that they will lay in it and not on the ground? I just don't want them to step on them or peck at them.

Also dh put everything in the coop and the chickens have kind of move things around a little bit. Is it ok if I kind of clean things up and move some of the boxes or will that make them stop laying?

 

[Pullet Surprise]

They'll do that...I only have 2 hens laying right now, with more coming soon, but the 2 that are laying use the same nest, or they trade off with a second nest and completely ignore the third nest. There is something about the spot that your four used nests are in that they like or they wouldn't have made their own nest near those nest boxes, maybe it's more "private" or something. Have you put decoy eggs in any of the unused nests? Anyway, it's all good, you don't have to look far for the eggs !!!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Young pullets lay on the ground because of several reasons. First, chickens are ground layers, by instinct, so it takes some time for them to learn to lay in the nest of your desire. Second, the young pullet often gets "caught off guard" by her laying and since she's laying a smaller, pullet egg, she sometimes passes it without much ado. More mature hens get better at all this. If a young pullet cannot get into the nest, because it is occupied, she may timidly lay an egg just outside it. Some birds also boot out a egg or two, it seems. There are pecking order issues involved with all this. Sometimes there is considerable squabbling and fighting going on in and around the nest boxes.

 

[Firefighter Chick]

put some golf balls in the other nest boxes so they can practice moving their fake clutch of eggs around.