HEN IS PUSHING EGGS OUT OF NEST BOX!!!

[themadchicken]

I have one hen that does not like eggs in the nest box she decides she wants to use so she will push the other eggs out. The boxes have a three inch lip on them so this isnt an easy task i would imagine. Is there anything i can do to make her stop? She has 4 boxes to chose from so its not like there aint enough. I only have 4 hens that are laying right now. Im almost to the point of poutting a net of some kind under the dang boxes to catch flying eggs. Has anyone had this problem?

 

[EMarston]

I have hens who do this too, but my nest boxes are at ground-level so there isn't anywhere for the eggs to fall so they don't break. Not sure if you could lower the next boxes??

 

[themadchicken]

not without rebuilding the whole wall

 

[theoldchick]

Somebody on BYC designed a roll away nest box that would be perfect for your situation. The box has a bottom that allow the egg to roll out of the box away from chicken. This is also perfect for chickens who want to eat eggs.

 

[themadchicken]

i thought about that to but im afraid they would problabe find somewere in the yard to lay that is nice and soft cause i free range them during the day.

 

[themadchicken]

Would it help to put curtins up over each box so she couldnt actually see the eggs until she went in? She seems to go out of the way to find the blue egg and push it out. I left the door open to an old coop one day and she and my EE laid in there and sure enough she pushed the EE's blue egg out. Mabey she just hates blue.

 

[EMarston]

Maybe the curtains would help--if only because it was dark enough that she couldn't *see* the other eggs as well? Can't hurt to try, but I've heard that you need to make a split in a curtain or the chickens won't go through it if they can't easily see to the other side--they're too "chicken" to go through.

Good luck!