~It's become oh so evident . . .~

[1mommahen]

that we need to add more nesting boxes to the Cochin Coop!

 

[Mourningdove]

Sure looks that way!

At least they know where to lay them!

 

[Beau coop]

Mine do that to! I have a broody who sits in the box all day. There are 2 other nest boxes right next to that one. But I'll find 2 other girls in the same box with the broody and the others empty.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I know! I have 6 empty nest boxes and 5 chickens piled into 2 nest boxes together! No matter how many times I try to rearrange them they all pile back up again to lay.
I give up!

 

[JayBird+16]

Mine do that too! I've got 7 hens and 4 boxes and they all want to be in the same one. I witnessed 1 hen jump onto the back of 1 that was already in the box and lay an egg on her! It was very interesting & wierd! All of the other boxes were empty. Who can figure out the chicken brain?

 

[Guinea Goonie]

This is how I got into SOOOO much trouble this last fall. I had a broody hen in the box and the other girls would lay and when I went to lift the broodies butt she had 14 eggs under her and she started with 4 !!

I had to take them all out and put them into the incubator and close the nest boxes for a few days.

They started laying other places, but the brood hen was broke of it by then.

I only hatched out 2 chicks from that, the rest were taken by my DW and that was that. We candled them an there was no movement or they eggs were cleared.

 

[Beau coop]

Quote:
Someone said to make sure you mark the eggs that you WANT under her- then if you see more eggs you can figure out which ones don't belong.

OOPS! Sorry for the hijack. Back to our regularly schedule thread.

 

[1mommahen]

OK so maybe I won't add more!! There are four birds in this coop and only one box. So what do ya think, add one more or not?

 

[CovenantCreek]

Adding another doesn't mean they'll use it. I had 4 nest boxes in my small coop for the Delaware flock and 4 in the big coop for the RSLs... out 12 hens only 1 lays her egg in the Delaware coop. Lately I've been finding 4+ eggs in one box, a few in another and 1 or 2 with none.

 

[christmaschicken]

We used old Kitchen Cabinets in our Coop...

That makes 8 Boxes and all of them go in 1 to lay there eggs?

I gave up...