Cure for the nesting box traffic jam?

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I have 8 hens, and the other day when I went out to the coop, 6 of them were piled up in 1 nesting box! They were stacked like jenga sticks, and clearly annoyed with each other. The same thing happened the next day. I actually have 4 nesting boxes, but all the hens insist on using the same one. I tried putting an egg in each of the boxes to lure them, but they kicked them out! I'm not even sure how they got them over the lip of the box. It's not a big problem, just a funny one. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Fred's Hens]

There are some younger flocks that this traffic jam is a common thing. Usually, when the birds get older, they calm down a bit. Sometimes the fighting and over loading causes fights and broken eggs. Silly pullets.

I think there would be value in having a "community nest", which is just a really super wide nesting box, so that 4 or 5 could lay side by side.

 

[OldGuy43]

During the summer all use pretty much the same box even though there are 3 for 12 hens. In colder weather they use their shelter and all lay in pretty much the same corner.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I liked the idea of having a community nest, so I thought I'd give it a try. I pulled out one of the dividers between 2 nesting boxes to make a "double-wide", and the result was kind of hilarious. They all still piled in together, but they seem to constantly fight over who gets to sit on the existing eggs, so instead of concentrating on laying, they poke at each other, and try to pry the already laid eggs out from each other's undersides.