Only laying in one nesting box....

[10layingladies]

I have ten hens who all want to lay in the same nesting box....there are three boxes in the chicken coop but they all go to the same one. Anything I can do to encouraged them to use the other two so there's not such a risk of them breaking the eggs?

 

[Chew593]

throw a couple of golf balls or some wooden eggs (from the craft store) in the other nest boxes and empty the one they're laying in often. It might encourage them to spread out a bit. It's not unusual for them to lay in one box though. Are you experiencing a lot of broken eggs?

ETA:

 

[10layingladies]

Thanks! I'll try that. I have plenty of golf balls laying around So far we've had at least one a day that's broken. We got our first egg on July 9th and just this week we can safely say they are all laying (9 eggs collected yesterday) so I want to discourage this as quickly as possible while they're still new to laying.

 

[Chew593]

I have 10 hens... 5 nest boxes... and they all lay in just 2 of them. Enjoy, and Good Luck!

 

[Fred's Hens]

It's nature. They want their DNA in the "clutch" in case someone broods them.

10 hens in one hen pen, three boxes, and 90% of the time? You guessed it. All in one box. I stopped being concerned about it a long time ago.

 

[ginbart]

What's really funny is when one is in the box and another one wants in and starts squawking. I guess they know how to get me to the barn, it sounds like something is attacking them.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
Ain't it the truth!!! The only "egg song" we get around here is not the layer bragging, but another standing outside the one and only, special, we ALL must use it box, squawking like there is a bear in the coop. Geeeeeeez.

 

[Chew593]

You got that right. They can be feisty when the box already has 2 hens in it.

 

[Cockadoodledon't]

Have the same problem.

Fred's Hens :

Quote:
Ain't it the truth!!! The only "egg song" we get around here is not the layer bragging, but another standing outside the one and only, special, we ALL must use it box, squawking like there is a bear in the coop. Geeeeeeez.​