They only lay in one nest box

[logansmommy7]

I have 8 hens, one of which is broody because she is tending 5 week old chicks. The other 7 however are laying well. They only lay in one nest box. How can I get them to use all three? Or is there just no point...they take turns and get along pretty well.

 

[KellyHM]

There's no point...they lay where they want to lay. If your broody is in there you'll need to mark the eggs you want her to keep and steal all the others.

 

[bragabit]

I have the same problem. 14 nice nest boxes, and only 8 hens. They use 1 or 2 of the nest boxes, yet usually spend all morning fighting over those two boxes. Sometimes two hens will squish into the box at the same time to lay, its quite the site LOL

 

[countrylover88]

Hi I have same problem. Six hens, but all want the same nesting box. I have tried putting eggs in other boxes, but does not entice them at all. Just noticed ceramic eggs, is their purpose to fool the hens into laying in that particular box. Just wondering?

 

[Judy]

Quote:
That's one thing people do with them. Golf balls, rocks and plastic eggs (filled with sand or something for weight) do just as well. Never worked for me. I gave up and put the rest of the nest boxes in the new coop, and left my 4 older hens with their one favorite box.

 

[cutechickies1]

I have 6 hens laying and 6 boxes, and they all use 1 box! I tried to place white golf balls in the other boxes, and they pushed them out onto the floor of the coop. I just gave up and let them all lay in one box.

 

[consdrs]

Same problem here! I now have a new coop and have a "community" nest box. I'm tired of the yelling and screaming in the morning fighting over one box. well there ya go, one box. We'll see how it goes. I have left the option of partitioning the box.

Connie

 

[Farmer Mike]

So far, and my 8 hens are just starting to lay, they just use one box (most of the time). One hen decided lately to just lay on the floor in random spots so I have to hunt around a bit to make sure I have all the eggs. They rarely use the second nest box...today I found 4 eggs in one box and one on the floor.

 

[mother o' chicks72]

I have six hens, four of them laying and 1 nest box. they won't use the nest box, they lay on the floor in a little nest they made behind a hay bale.

 

[FromOregon]

I have 3 boxes and my none of the 6 seem to have picked a favorite yet.. I can tell their eggs apart and watch them on the nest. They will take whichever, but they will still fight over a boxes if one happens to be occupied. I am about to think it is a sibling rivalry and they just want what another is using. On a side note, I had a huge number of hens growing up and every now and then there would be a jam up at the next boxes and I would find 2 or 3 crammed into a favorite box. Generally one was on the bottom well tucked in and then there where legs, bloomers, heads and wings stuck every which way as they tried to share.. always gave me chuckle