Laying wars!!!!!

[SIMPleChick]

What is so different between today and yesterday????? My black australorp is usually stand offish. She will only climb the 15 porch stairs in the late afternoon if she is coming up to find put where her afternoon treat is. Today she has been up and down the porch stairs 10 times looking for a nesting spot in the pulled out flooring and carpet we took out this weekend. She is also following me around and letting me pick her up. She is not sick....I keep putting her in the coop, she even had her choice of favorite nest but left it and lost it to another chicken! Echo fits her name....she is so noisy but today it's horrible! She is going all over the yard looking for a place to lay, she is going crazy. Yup, up the stairs again right now! I moved things to discourage any laying and she even made me open the treat bin that she jumped into, rooted around and jumped out! What the heck is shedding??? She has never laid anywhere but the nesting boxes and now she can't find any spot at all in the whole yard! now she is back down and running into the coop....she is acting so weird!!! do your chickens do this??? I feel like amateur with her telling her where to lay, following her around.....

 

[SIMPleChick]

Hahaha! They changed one of my words to amateur! That's not what I wrote but oh well!

 

[allieloveschickens]

You can try locking her in the coop for a day or two so that she gets back in the hang of laying in the nest boxes. Chickens are very peculiar critters

 

[10 point]

never had that problem so IDK whats going on

 

[SIMPleChick]

She's finally in the nest, let's see if she stays there but now my BR is singing her egg song while jumping up and down off the roost....opposite end of the coop where the nesting boxes are....she has never done this either...what they heck is going on with my chickens! LOL

 

[epeloquin]

Try giving her a cardboard box with some straw or a 5 gal. bucket. Something you can control the location. Is it possible she took a pecking from another hen while in the nesting box?

 

[SIMPleChick]

Oh my goodness. I am going to have to post pictures later. echo finally laid in the nest but then the laying wars continued between Bugs my WLH and BG my EE. Bugs had been in the nest for over 10 minutes and BG, not wanting any other nest kept getting in with Bugs. They kept shoving each other out of the nest! I even put BG in the empty nest but she wanted nothing to do with it. She kept getting out and chirping at Bugs....She wanted that nest! This has been one interesting laying day!

 

[N&MSchroeder]

You know, I am discovering that it doesn't matter how many nests you have, there will be a few who fight over one preferred spot. We have 14 nest boxes (yes 14) for 31 hens. There are 4 who prefer a certain box and I have seen them piled on top of each other 3 high! The worst part is the one standing in line waiting, a speckled sussex, sits and wails the entire time. I have never heard anything like it. It is one long drawn out note over and over. I can hear her inside of my house with the windows closed and I am sure that I have an evil EE who delights in her misery so she stays for an extra long time in the box.

Wow, I hope they get it figured out. Good luck!