Chickens all using the same nesting box

[rusty acres]

I've been getting 5 brown eggs and 2 blues a day for a couple weeks. Today I found another 2 brown eggs, for a total of 7. All of them in the same damn nesting box. The one all the way in the back that's hardest to get to, of course.

 

[JaeG]

They like to have a communal nest and many a chicken will stand in line, waiting for the favoured nestbox to be free (all the while protesting that they can't hang on much longer)! You could pop a couple of fake eggs in other nestboxes to encourage others to lay there instead of in the favourite one.

 

[lazy gardener]

Congrats on your increasing egg count.

 

[wamtazlady]

They prefer the darkest place to lay. Putting a fake egg in the other boxes might encourage them to lay there. You might make the other nest boxes more appealing by adding a curtain. Or, as happens, that's the way chickens are. Accept it. They find one box and decide it's the only box worth laying in. They'll wait in line to use that one box. Sometimes you'll find 2 chickens laying in the box at the same time.

 

[rusty acres]

I had fake eggs in all the boxes, but took them out last week when I went out of town and had someone else taking care of my girls. The fake eggs help the chickens, but seem to confuse the people. The last time my mom helped out, I ended up with a basket of real and fake eggs because she couldn't tell the difference, lol! I'll put them back to see if that helps, and maybe try hanging some curtains to make the other boxes more cozy. I really need to make a small access flap from the outside so I can collect the eggs without crawling in the coop, then I wouldn't really care which box they all use.

 

[JaeG]

I had fake eggs in all the boxes, but took them out last week when I went out of town and had someone else taking care of my girls. The fake eggs help the chickens, but seem to confuse the people. The last time my mom helped out, I ended up with a basket of real and fake eggs because she couldn't tell the difference, lol!

That's funny!

 

[rusty acres]

Congrats on your increasing egg count.

Yes, I'm definitely happy about that! Just shaking my head at my funny girls

 

[aart]

I'm betting just putting the fake eggs back will help.
I use a sharpie to mark the fakies with a ring around entire egg.

 

[rusty acres]

The fake eggs definitely helped! I only put them in the front 2 boxes and no one even used the back one today.

I'm betting just putting the fake eggs back will help.
I use a sharpie to mark the fakies with a ring around entire egg.

That is a great idea, aart! I'm doing that tomorrow.

 

[Chickassan]

I hope you fair better than i did, my ninnies moved all the dummy eggs into the worst box. I think they were making a statement.