Do not have only ONE nest box!

[Riverbend Farms]

Do not just have one nesting box, even if you only have 2 or 3 chickens. At least one will go broody, take the nesting box and scream at all the other chickens for daring to come in the coop and scare them into laying eggs in the run. I have a coop w/ 3 nesting box and when THAT one OEGB hen goes broody, she scares everyone else into laying in the run otherwise they get screamed at and chased. (She is now in jail for it) If you have 15 chickens, have 30 nesting boxes, it still won't be enough. They will only use 3 and when 3 chickens inevitably get broody and take them, they won't lay in the other nesting boxes.

 

[Down Under]

I have been thinking on a solution to this for a while now, not because of broodies but for higher pecking order birds screaming and kicking lower pecking order birds out as a power trip. The only thing that I can come up with so far is a rollaway nesting box, wide enough to take 5 or 6 hens, that has no dividers in it.

 

[BlueO]

I have a broody duck right now and she just sits loyally and quietly as all the other ducks step directly on her. Oh but if I ever even open the coop door or dare try and candle an egg… she becomes a complete dragon!

 

[Ted Brown]

The notion that 15 birds need 30 nests is ridiculous.

I have 27 hens with 7 nests and they are never all used at the same time and occasionally I see two in one at the same time. The standard on BYC is a nest for every 3-4 hens.

I do agree that a single nest is not sufficient but then I have never seen a coop with only one, much more often there are too many which takes over usable space that the flock needs.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Agree with @Ted Brown. OP, I think you need to put your nasty broody in broody jail for a while! With 20 hens I have basically four nests at waist height and never a problem. Mostly, two of those nests get used. I also have four additional boxes on the floor for "just in case" that practically never get used. However, recently, two pullets went broody in two of those ground-level nests, so I was glad I had them.

 

[Altairsky]

My bantam broody took all the upper row of nests. Even the big dual purpose ladies are scared of her pterodactyl screams and will only lay on the bottom row.
It took me 1 year to train them into using the upper row lol...