Single hen laying outside the nesting box?

[nettiebakes]

Hello,
I'm new to raising chickens and I have 2 Leghorns (Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum), 1 Rhode Island Red (Ginger), and 1 Bantum Americauna (Betsy). All of my chickens use the nesting box but my RIR. I have an enclosed run and a community nesting box that is about 3 1/2 feet wide with no separations. I have it set up so that the nesting box sits on the outside of the fence with a hinged roof so that I shouldn't have to go inside the coop to collect eggs. When they first started laying a couple months ago, they all layed in the same spot in the nesting box, but now, my RIR won't lay there anymore. She usually lays inside the coop, and one time she layed under the coop in the run. One time there it looked like one of the chickens had pecked the egg and it had a hole in it but that was only one time. Today I went earlier than usual to give them water and collect eggs and Ginger had layed in the nesting box, but she was the only one who had layed today. Could it be that she just doesn't want to lay where anyone else is laying? Would a partition in the nesting box to separate it into two boxes help this? Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[J-Sanders]

You can try the partition and or a front cover from cloth to give more privacy. Also, if at all possible make sure your boxes are not very high off the floor. Or you could set up a separate box in the corner or under the coop but it would make you have to go inside to collect.

Jim

 

[rosebuds]

yes i would seperate the box.

Or put a nest on floor near the boxes.

 

[nettiebakes]

Thanks for your input!