Laying eggs and squawking

[milleryardchx]

I have a double nest box for my three hens BUT while the first lays her egg the other just won't be quiet and just squawks at her till she is off so she can lay her egg in the same spot. Why wont she just use the other nest box? what happens later on if i want one to brood do they still use trhe same box and half the chicks are from a difforent mama?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Perfectly normal and totally annoying. I think all my hens hear the
same "lay an egg" bell in their heads at the same time.

Then again they are hens.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

My girls do this all the time and there are 4 nests with only 5 hens laying!!! They will even get tired of waiting and try to shove each other out of the preferred nest....which is any nest someone else chose to lay in that day!!! One of my girls had an egg laid on her back while trying to bully another hen from the nest recently!!!! It is just what chickens do.

 

[fivebigreds]

They all lay in the same nest to get a clutch of eggs as fast as possible so someone can start to sit on them.

 

[pixiechick]

Any chance they are just cheering each other on? We had a rooster once who would get in the nest box with the hen and celebrate as loudly as she when an egg was laid. Personally, I found this to be a bit too much devotion, but to each his own!

 

[milleryardchx]

Ok thanks, I just wanted to make sure I'm not the only one with weird hens haha

 

[Nichole77]

The same reason no one wants to use the first bathroom stall.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Quote:
This is perfectly normal. Mine take it a step further and try to lay eggs on top of one another.

To encourage laying in both nestboxes, try placing the equal amount of golfballs or fake/wooden eggs in each nest box. They'll see the wooden egg or golfball and think another hen has already layed an egg there and it is deemed "exceptable" to lay their egg there as well.

As for the broody part. Best thing to do with a broody hen is to place her in her own area. I keep my broodies in a medium sized plastic dog crate inside our coop/run. This allows the hen to have the comfort of being near her companions but also the privacy a broody desires. Not seperating a broody, lets the other hens to continually lay in the clutch she is sitting on. Therefore embryos begin developing at different times, leading to a "scattered hatch"(all eggs don't hatch same day). Scattered hatches do not do well and are often messy and heartbreaking. So, best thing to do is seperate any broodies and not use a community nestbox(unless you can keep the others out of it).

-Kim

 

[hcammack]

LOL all eleven of my hens get set off at noon even though half of them have already layed I actually like the I just layed and egg and my sister is laying one now noise it is soothing my neighbors and mom want to make chicken soup

 

[Davaroo]

I used to wonder too - three big nests, and all the hens crammed into one. I quit worrying baout them. They do what they do.