Hens laying in left box only?

[Ted_Harrell]

Good point sir, hadn't thought of that one.

 

[chickens really]

Chickens will be chickens, just be glad you don't have 17 hens all wanting to lay in the same box.

I have 3 that yell all morning for the same box or pile in together..I have little Bantams and they are very particular on the box they use. My Silkie she makes a nest on the floor in a corner when laying. She isn't picky..

 

[slordaz]

I think there is also a concept that if someone else laid there it must be a good place. It can be beneficial in the winter since the first eggs laid get warmed some as subsequent hens sit waiting for their egg to emerge.

during the winter, once everyone's laid they rotate who stays on the eggs to keep them warm until I get out there to collect, my flock is funny, only tossed all of them the first freezing day after they started laying

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Because chickens are totally weird It's pretty common for them to pick a favorite nest box, and everybody wants to lay there.
Try putting ceramic eggs or golf balls in the nests they aren't using. Sometimes you can fool them into using all the nest boxes.

When my nesting boxes were connected, my girls would roll the fake egg into their favorite box

 

[GC-Raptor]

My Barred Rocks do the same. They like the box on the left side. . The white eggs are ceramic. I took out one ceramic egg since and left two in the other two nests. It helped for a short period.
They will harass a hen in that nest if she's lower on the pecking order.
One of my lower rank hens will run in and out of the coop several times checking if the nest is available, until she can't hold it in, and then use another nest. I had 7, now down to 5 in that coop. So a little less commotion. GC

 

[aart]

I think there is also a concept that if someone else laid there it must be a good place.

That is the key and number one reason...
...chickens don't need no stinking 'privacy' they just need to feel 'safe'.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Yeah chickens are totally weird
Never a dull moment. Gotta love it

 

[chickens really]

That is the key and number one reason...
...chickens don't need no stinking 'privacy' they just need to feel 'safe'.

Isn't privacy a sense of security

 

[aart]

Isn't privacy a sense of security

For a human, not an animal.

 

[chickens really]

For a human, not an animal.

What.? .A Hen will go off if given a choice to lay eggs in privacy and security. All animals will do that if given a choice to do so..
My Dog if given the choice wanted to whelp in the back of the spare bedroom closet and not out in the middle of my living room rug. She had the puppies in her dog bed in my room but wasn't her first choice. She wanted privacy and security..