Why do my hens do this?

[Miachick9]

I have two hens that sit in the same box together.Why doesn't one just sit in there.At one point I had all three of my hens in there at once.

Do I keep both In there?

 

[Michael Apple]

That isn't uncommon. It can be annoying though. Chicken see, chicken do is often the case. Sometimes it can be competition for space. I discourage it because sometimes they break each others eggs. Try to add some nests if possible to discourage it. Sometimes putting a curtain over the entrance of each nest makes it darker and more private. Hens prefer to lay eggs in dark areas.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It’s very normal behavior. They figure if it is a safe place for another hen to lay then it is a safe place for them to lay. I have two sharing a nest on a daily basis and three on the same nest is a regular occurrence. I’ve even seen three on a nest together with a fourth pacing and waiting her turn when there are empty nests available.

I tend to leave chickens alone when they are on the nest. If the egg shells are decently hard, it is really rare for them to break one when laying together. If that is happening, you probably have a soft or thin egg shell problem you need to address.

If they are laying in a nest, I don’t want to discourage that so they decide to find a safer place to lay and wind up hiding nests on me. If I try to do something with then in the nest, even if they are not broody and are just laying, they get agitated and defensive. To me that raises the chance of a broken or cracked egg a lot more than just two or three hens laying peacefully together.

It’s just my opinion, but I see absolutely nothing to gain by messing with them while they are on the nest doing what you want then to do where you want them to do it. I agree you need enough nests and I think it helps spread their laying out a bit if you keep fake eggs (I use golf balls) in all the nests so they think it is a safe place to lay, but I’m not disturbing mine when they are on the nests. Most of my eggs are in the same nest but I do get eggs in all my nests. I have 11 hens laying in 3 nests.

 

[Miachick9]

I have ten nesting boxes.It's just they decide to lay in the same box together.

 

[Crazy Chick]

Maybe they like eachother! Lol

 

[lorain's fids]

I have ten nesting boxes.It's just they decide to lay in the same box together.

LOL!!! I have 5 nest boxes for 5 chickens---all 5 want to be in the box that the first chickens goes into that day. If they decide to lay at the same time I do have a rukus going on in the coop. i have seen one of them actually try and push the other one out by using her head.

 

[Crazy Chick]

I have 5 nesting boxes for two chickens and only one even uses a nest box. The other one made a nest over in a corner and the rooster sleeps on a roost

 

[farmer boy]

i have 29 birds all together but some are roosters and some are ducks and one is a chick with a momma but the hens that are laying 10 of them for now lay in the same nest they don't like the other ones they just want that big nest box that has something sorta hiding the hole ... my little oegb even goes in their and scratches it around and clucks and calls the hens over its cute and then my ducks just lay where ever they want its and they get muddy or dirty or pecked at its annoying

 

[Michael Apple]

It’s very normal behavior. They figure if it is a safe place for another hen to lay then it is a safe place for them to lay. I have two sharing a nest on a daily basis and three on the same nest is a regular occurrence. I’ve even seen three on a nest together with a fourth pacing and waiting her turn when there are empty nests available.

I tend to leave chickens alone when they are on the nest. If the egg shells are decently hard, it is really rare for them to break one when laying together. If that is happening, you probably have a soft or thin egg shell problem you need to address.

If they are laying in a nest, I don’t want to discourage that so they decide to find a safer place to lay and wind up hiding nests on me. If I try to do something with then in the nest, even if they are not broody and are just laying, they get agitated and defensive. To me that raises the chance of a broken or cracked egg a lot more than just two or three hens laying peacefully together.

It’s just my opinion, but I see absolutely nothing to gain by messing with them while they are on the nest doing what you want then to do where you want them to do it. I agree you need enough nests and I think it helps spread their laying out a bit if you keep fake eggs (I use golf balls) in all the nests so they think it is a safe place to lay, but I’m not disturbing mine when they are on the nests. Most of my eggs are in the same nest but I do get eggs in all my nests. I have 11 hens laying in 3 nests.

The egg shells weren't the problem. Egg breakers were. I've read all kinds of theories over the years about nutrition, discomfort, using porcelain eggs in nest boxes, etc. Sometimes it is just learned behavior in regard to egg pickers/eaters. One starts it and the others follow. They do it simply because they can. I believe it is also competition. More nests with curtains to darken them took care of it for me. I don't like to bother them during their nesting either, but the common "one nest box for every 4 hens" as stated in many books is bad advice from my experience. I also have long practiced checking the nest boxes in mid morning when I can, and again in the afternoon every day.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I also think egg eating is a learned behavior. Any chicken will eat an egg that is accidently broken. That’s just normal behavior to me. The problem comes in when one learns to open an egg on her own. I think that comes from broken eggs.

I’ve only had one of those egg opeming hens in many many years. I think she learned because a pullet was dropping her eggs from the roost instead of laying in a nest. However it happened, it took a while to figure out which one was actually opening them. When I permanently removed her, the problem went away. That one had not yet taught her buddies how to open one, though they helped her eat them once one was opened.

I can’t say I’ve never had an egg cracked or more likely punctured by a claw on the nest, but it is extremely rare, like several months or even years between occurrences. These are not damaged enough that anything leaks out and they are not eaten.

In what way do you consider that rule of thumb of 1 to 4 bad advice? Too many or too few? In my experience it works pretty well for flocks of a dozen or so layers but when you get more hens than that, the ratio can drop. The larger the flock the fewer nests per hen you need because they do share.

I made my nests 16” x 16” so they do have some extra room in there. That may make a difference too.

I’ll add that I don’t believe in magic numbers for chickens. We keep them in so many different circumstances and conditions that there is hardly ever any one number that works for us all. But people with no experience need a starting place. That’s where the guidelines come in. They are generally a good starting that will keep most people out of trouble in most conditions.

I think most of the guidelines on this forum are tailored toward people that are keeping a few hens in a small suburban backyard. The coop and run space, roost space, number of nest boxes, and many other guidelines don’t mean as much when you get really large flocks.