hen trying to sit under other hens to lay

[3goodeggs]

I tried to do a search on this, but I am not hitting the key search words I guess.
This hen was looking roughed up. So I spent a few hours for a couple of days in the run and coop observing.
That ridiculous little hen dives under the other hens like a chick. She then lays her eggs. I have hens share boxes and there is no problem, but this hen really irritates the other hens trying to lay. She'll dive in and out of all of the boxes until she lays. She is almost in a panic about it. Now I realize that my eggs that I find broken are not from an eater, like I thought, but from the goofy hen stepping on them.
Will this behavior stop? I Would pick her up and put her into an empty box, but she'd jump right out and onto another laying hen. And she'd get pecked hardily too. She'd work her way under the hen and try to sit like that. Then I removed the laying hen into another box, thinking this weird hen wanted THAT particular box...but then she'd jump out and dive under another hen...who bit her too. Will she out grow it? They are buff Orps. 8 months old.
This is kind of a runt chicken. She may be a new layer, because she was behind all of the others in development...she's been my problem child. Could she just not be all there upstairs?

 

[georgia2]

I hope you get an answer because I want to know too! Good luck

 

[3goodeggs]

Me too! I am going to have to do something with that nut job.

 

[fordmommy]

I had a hen kinda like that. She wouldn't freak out about it though. She was killed by a dog attack a week ago.

Could you put her in a nesting box and block it so she couldn't get out, forcing her to lay in there? Another member gave me a great idea. With her broody hens she takes a Tidy Cat box that the litter comes in, the kind that the lid only opens a 3/4 of the way on top. She cuts off the 3/4 side of the lid. Turns the box on the side, with the remaining lid facing out, and on the bottom. Then she takes stiff wire fencing and cuts it slightly bigger than the opening, bends the sides in to make a door that slides up and down. It was amazing. Fill with nesting material up to the cut of the lid. Wow. Handy dandy nesting box.

 

[3goodeggs]

If I don't break her of this, she'll be comb-less, bald and probably blind. The other hens are irritated at her for sure!
How long did you have to cage her before she figured out that she could lay an egg without being under another hen? I supposed she'd have to be penned up all day and then let out to roost.
I am sorry that you lost your hen.
thanks for your reply!