Nest box arrangement?

[rancher hicks]

I build a set of nest boxes. 3 one on top of the others. 48" high. The first about 6-8 inches off the floor. The thing is their only using the top one. I also have an apple crate about 20 inches or so off the floor on another wall and they've used that too. It just won't hold the straw. On top of this one is an open box not to deep and I've seen them sit in it but not lay.
Today I went in and there was a Dominique hen and she was having a fit. She was very upset. Well it seems there were two eggs in the nest. I slowly reached in and took them out. As I recall one was warm.
Later I went out and there was an egg in the box.
It would be a pain to rebuild a set of nest boxes. Built them just like the ones in the catalog.
So will they begin to use the other two boxes? I've seen hens in them but I don't recall any eggs in them. I have a wooden egg in the middle box which is at least 24" off the floor.
Is it possible that the one Dom was upset that there were eggs in "her" nest box?
I did find an egg in the run today also.
20 hens and only 5 eggs. 21wks old.

 

[trilyn]

Apparently they seem to like the higher ones! Any way you can switch your arrangement around to suit them? Hopefully someone else will hop on here soon.

 

[kcfuerst]

You might try mounting the nests horizonally (across) rather than perpendicular (up and down). They seem to like picking a nest from the same level and may successfully use them as long as they are lower than the roosting area. 6-8" from the ground may be a bit too low.