Depends on the chicken. Some chickens care, some don't. Some roosters will encourage the hens to lay elsewhere if they see you collecting eggs, some don't care. Just a personality thing, I think.
I'm learning!
I've gone to 2 chickens/nest box, but that is because mine are high-volume layers (6/week) so they spend a good amount of time in nest boxes. A more mixed age group or lower-frequency layers might be fine with 3 chickens/nest box. This has significantly reduced the amount of squawking and squabbling between the girls.
I think I'm going to try this.
For what it is worth, I try not to disturb the girls in their boxes. But since I leave their original "trainer" ceramic eggs in the nest boxes, there is always one/box.
I had golf balls and one of mine wasn't fooled by them. She seemed to only want a nest of real eggs, and many of them, so I've hollowed out their shells and filled them with sand.
What a good rooster!I have 7 nest boxes for 16 hens. The 5 who are currently laying, all lay their eggs in a spot in the shavings next to the nest boxes
We have only had one hen who randomly started laying eggs in the yard while free ranging - she was not a new layer and not broody. We caught her early and a week of the flock being locked in the run broke the habit. I found her nest because our rooster followed her and chased her back into the coop. I guess he didn't like her laying outside the coop either.
I average 20 potential layers. I currently have 10 nesting boxes. To me it's not a matter of ratios. There are nesting boxes on the floor now where hens have laid on the floor. If they want to lay on the floor I'll give them a nest to lay in on that spot. Sometimes they use them, sometimes they do not. There are times I feel like ripping out all nests but the current favorite, lol. Then a few days later they all choose a different favorite nest! Who knows the mind of a chicken?
