Funny Behavior

[britinpa]

I've suspected my smallest girl of the bunch, who I call 'Jenny Wren', is the lowest on the pecking order. I see her get chased off often. It's only been these last 3 weeks that I've noticed that she is now laying. She makes the strangest noises when she's in the nest box and the others get near her. While I was checking on them a short while ago, Jenny was the only one in a nesting box. I was in the run pottering around when one of the others went into the coop and was making strange noises of her own. I went around to open the coop to re-fill their inside food dish, and could only see the bigger girl. I then realized she had got into the box with Jenny. I shooed her out, but she still wanted to get in and continued to make noise. I had to block her from bothering Jenny. When Jenny got out of the box there were 3 eggs in there (I know they like to share the same box). Was the bigger girl bothered because she'd already laid her egg in there and wanted to get to it? Do you think I should put curtains up in front of the nest boxes

 

[azygous]

Hens laying eggs refuse to follow rules. The first time I ever saw a hen in a nest box laying an egg, there was the other hen straddling her laying her egg on her back. I had just adopted these two, and I though, "I didn't know they did it that way".

Sometimes, another hen will climb into the nest where another hen already is, and she will crowd her out and force her to go to another nest.

On more than one occasion, two hens in a nest were joined by the rooster. That ended up being a free-for-all and a little blood was shed.

 

[CraftyHen]

My gals shift whichever nest is the It Nest. Just as I get used to seeing all the eggs in one nest they swap up and everyone uses a new nest. 2 of my CCLs will go into the nest together and wait it out until each has laid. Most likely, the bigger hen just wanted to use the cool nest box of the day that Jenny was in.
I have curtains. Its just cloth stapled to the board above and then I cut slits into it. The hens seemed much happier after the curtains went up.

 

[britinpa]

Thanks for replies

Hens laying eggs refuse to follow rules. The first time I ever saw a hen in a nest box laying an egg, there was the other hen straddling her laying her egg on her back. I had just adopted these two, and I though, "I didn't know they did it that way".

Sometimes, another hen will climb into the nest where another hen already is, and she will crowd her out and force her to go to another nest.

On more than one occasion, two hens in a nest were joined by the rooster. That ended up being a free-for-all and a little blood was shed.

My gals shift whichever nest is the It Nest. Just as I get used to seeing all the eggs in one nest they swap up and everyone uses a new nest. 2 of my CCLs will go into the nest together and wait it out until each has laid. Most likely, the bigger hen just wanted to use the cool nest box of the day that Jenny was in.
I have curtains. Its just cloth stapled to the board above and then I cut slits into it. The hens seemed much happier after the curtains went up.

Thanks for your replies. OMG, one laying an egg on top of the other, that's crazy! Those boxes seem so small for 2, I'm amazed that one would tolerate the other in there while she's laying. It's the first time I've seen this, but by the sounds of it, it's more common than I imagined.

 

[aart]

Do you think I should put curtains up in front of the nest boxes

Nah.
Put one fake egg in each nest, should help 'spread the love'.
Doesn't mean they won't double up, or grouse about the 'nest du jour' being occupied.