Are Hens This Stubborn??

[Mrs. K]

I swear laying hens are put on earth to drive us crazy. Mine will pick one nest for weeks, and then all of a sudden switch!

And for the past six months, I have a group that lay on the floor. And the last 3 days - someone is laying in a five gallon bucket half filled with oyster shell.... seriously!

 

[Golden Comet Mama]

I don’t have a solution unfortunately but I’m cracking up that they were waiting in line for a turn

Me too

 

[Coops Dad]

I have 17 hens (not all laying yet but close) and 4 identical nesting boxes. This morning I had 2 hens in the 2 outer boxes with 2 in line (seriously in a single file line waiting) for each and another decided the corner of the coop was a nice spot. Why do they not want the 2 middle boxes? Are chickens just stubborn like that? I have heard about privacy curtains, would they just duck under the curtains to get in? Didn’t want it to seem closed off and they lay somewhere else! Thanks!

So you're saying that your hens are completely normal. I have nearly a dozen laying boxes but my hens routinely use just four.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I now have nine boxes, five on the floor and four above. I get anywhere from 8 to 14 eggs a day. Inevitably, one or two nests contain three to six eggs and some nests have none, and it varies. I think they just play Musical Nests from time to time. I put nest boxes on the floor because some of my hens were laying there. I have also put various items in the corners to prevent them from laying where I can't reach (I'm old and a little decrepit.) There's a bucket of sand in one corner and one of sweet PDZ in another for replenishing the poop trays; the feeders containing oyster shell and crushed granite grit in another, and a bucket containing my nitrile gloves and masks for cleaning is in the fourth corner. It's just a version of The Games Chickens Play.

 

[SourRoses]

12 adult hens, 3 nest boxes. Only 1 actual box is used and a half filled bag of shavings is used by two of them. Every morning involves some drama, either bouncing around and whining, sitting on top of each other, or the boss hen kicking everyone out of the nest AND coop so she can have some privacy for her efforts (she's over 4, most days she doesn't have an egg but she still likes to try). Recently she went broody, I have no fertile eggs to give her, and of course she requires "the one" nest box. Which means eggs laid randomly near the feeder or wherever the girls just couldn't hold it anymore.

 

[My Three Chicks]

Fortunately my 6 girls spread out between the 3 nest boxes. I think the curtains help a lot.
To answer your curtain question, I added a gap (or you could cut a slit) so they can easily see where to go in but still have good privacy when they are inside.