All My Hens Are Using the Same Nesting Box!

[smittykat]

It's great to read everyone's comments. We're new to this and we see the same thing. 10 hens and 2 out of 10 nests being used. One nest is actually a corner between two boxes that they love to lay in (secluded ). Some hens must have been waiting and couldn't hold it because we found eggs in the middle of the floor. Gotta love the girls.

 

[jcslong]

We found a dead hen in the nesting box the other day and did a "necropsy " to see if we could figure out why she died. (got instructions on the web and examined her organs etc) No worms, no mucous, normal looking crop and gizzard. A beautiful full formed egg inside and a train of following partly made eggs, which all looked normal. Didn't look like she was egg bound.
Found nothing at a all remarkable... she looked as healthy on the inside as the outside. Spend time in the coop this morning and its clear that the hens are doubling up and maybe even tripling up on single boxes. Our boxes are commercial ones... really only made for one hen at a time. I think our poor Andromeda was smothered.
Has anyone else seen that? Should we switch to larger boxes for "group" laying?

 

[sjturner79]

yes most commercial nest boxes really don't suit hens. If you watch when your hens lay and its about the same time for all of them you need a box big enough for at least 3/4 of them to fit into or they will indeed suffocate each other, or break each others neck while trying to lay there egg. Ours are OK because of 14 hens only 2 or 3 lay at a time, with at least 20 mins between them and the next group. I think it was built as a cow feeder originally.

 

[jcslong]

Thanks... There goes $200 of nesting boxes'

 

[sjturner79]

Thanks... There goes $200 of nesting boxes'

Sorry, it just goes to show how little those that make and sell chicken product think about the actual flock behaviour of backyard chickens as opossed to battery hens.
It also shows that anyone should spend at least a week reading BYC and asking questions before getting thier first chooks or making chook related purchases.

I hope you find an effective solution that doesn't cost you much.