Non laying birds in the nest box & Cracked eggs!

[davescarbrough]

Hey all, I need a little help. I have a small flock of 15 laying hens. On average I get 13 eggs a day. Earlier this year, I added 8 new hens, and 6 pearl guineas. The new group are all about 3.5 months old. The problem is, during the day, while the other hens are out scratching around the yard, many of the new birds, including the guineas (boys & girls) are going inside the coop. I keep crumbles out in a feeder in the coop, and I know they are bottom in the order so they have to eat when they can. That would all be OK, but while they are in there, they are getting in the nest boxes, scratching around, and cracking 1 or 2 eggs a day. I've never had this problem before. Normally, my other girls wonder back to the coop, lay in one of the 7 boxes, set for a bit then go their way. I try to collect eggs during the day, but I can't be out there all the time. But I'm not happy about losing so many eggs a week. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do about this? Thanks!

 

[DanasChicks]

Hi Davescarbrough,
This happened to me as well. I have witnessed many times my new flock of Silkie roos and guineas go in the nesting boxes to get eggs. A few times I would go out and physically throw them out of the hen house. It continued for a while, but I didn't change anything, I chalked it up to being a boundary and control issue with the new members of the flock and with time it stopped. Good luck!