One stall chickens

[Chicken Cop]

Hello. I am new to this site and I was wondering if somebody could help me? I have 11 chickens and they ALL use just one box to lay their eggs. Although I have 10 empty boxes they all use one box only. I wanted to have a chicken hatch some eggs but due to the high volume of eggs, I don't know which eggs are new and which chicken to allow to sit on the eggs. I've tried closing their favorite box but then all of my chickens will only use the next and for some reason refuse to use other boxes. Any help or suggestions be greatly appreciated.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi - firstly don't worry - my chickens will either wait patiently until their favourite nest is free or get right on in their with their flock mate to lay - bonkers!

Firstly, you need to plan how you are going to keep a nest and a broody hen separate from the main flock, but ideally still in the coop. I don't separate my broody hen from the rest of the flock, but she is the alpha hen and no other bird would dare try and lay in her nest - you may not have the same situation. Alternatively, you would have to remove the non-marked eggs on a daily basis.

Then you need to ensure that you collect, date mark and store the eggs that you wish to hatch. These eggs should be no more than 10 days old, but i go for 7 days personally.

Once you have a broody hen, test her commitment to being broody by ensuring that she sits on a nest (only getting off it to eat / drink) for at least 48 hours.

Once you see evidence of this, you can move the hen to the separate brooding area or leave her to brood in the nest of her choosing.

I'd strongly suggest that you read up on these topics, as i have only touched on some of the main ones.


All the best
CT

 

[aart]

Put fake egg/golf balls in some or all of the other nests.