Nest Box Battles

[BLaBauve]

My hens have always fought over nest boxes, but now the older hens aren't letting the younger pullets lay. I have 6 nest boxes in a row, and of course they only like 2 of them. Once the pullet settles into a box, the hens peck at her until she gets out - then the pullet carries on screaming for a long time. I've thought about cutting some of the nest box dividers out in the coop which would create larger nest boxes. That way maybe 2 can fit in 1 box. Thoughts?

 

[Chicken Chat]

Do you think that your older hens would share a bigger nest box with another hen? The reason I pose this question is that I probably only have 3 hens that would willing share, but it would be worth a shot.

Have you tried putting some fake eggs in some of the less desireable boxes? If they see that someone else thinks that is a pretty good spot, maybe that will trick them into using some of the other ones.

 

[BLaBauve]

I have no idea if they would share, but they are somewhat small. I may try making one bigger though. I have fake eggs in almost all the boxes! They just really like to pick on the younger pullets in there.

 

[Chicken Chat]

Well you don't know unless you try. That extra space isn't getting used anyway. Good luck!