I have 3 hens and they all want to lay their eggs in the same nesting box, at the same time. Every morning, my 3 hens fight over the same nesting box. They holler and squack, and kick each other out. Why, we have 3 nesting boxes one for each of them, but they all seem to want to lay just in 1 box. What can I do to get them to lay in one of the other boxes? And does anybody else have this problem?
Yes, mine are the same way. I don't think much can be done. Just let them fight it out. In the end, they'll all get their turn.
We face the same thing. We have about 15 nesting boxes and there are about 5 that are most frequently used.
This sort of thing is why there is the term "pecking order". They will sort it out among themselves. I updated my chicken coop to add a nest box. They stopped laying in the old box and now exclusively lay in the new box. They still use the old box as a sort of "waiting room".
yep- they find a favorite and nothing will change their mind- we redid our coop, enough room for everyone- 8 boxes, but they all like one particular one... here is a pic of them waiting on the old box, they have a favorite blue box now, and that is the only place to lay in their minds
Yup, mine line up like airplanes on a runway. We have 8 laying boxes and only 3 are used. We have one extra-large box that once we saw three hens in at the same time.
lol mines favorite spot is a nest behind a board leaned up against the wall. 1 uses the actual nesting box lol
Mine would fight til they were bloody - then I put up a 6 hole nesting box, complete with ledge and took the old one down Key words - "Took the old one down" hahaha
Quote:I have 2 nest boxes for 7 laying hens in the one coop and they all invariably use the same one, sometimes two at a time. But they all seem to get along
Hi All Check post #7, third picture. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=401473&p=1 Joe
