Egg laying

[Okaythen]

As of right now all my hens (3 hens) share a nesting box. I’m working on building them a new one and my oldest hen keeps entering the nesting box and leaving, repeating this pattern. She has seen her other sister lay their eggs in this box before so could she be upset it’s not just for her?

 

[azygous]

No. She has some other agenda. As a rule, hens will choose one favorite nest and all will quarrel over it. If you build two more nests so each hen can have her very own, they will all fight over one nest, even crowding together in it together. I have a dozen hens and five nest boxes. They all use the same two favorite nests, generally ignoring the other three.

 

[MountainWoman73]

Yep. That's normal. My hens always lay in the same 1-2 nest boxes, and crowd in there 2-3 at a time. It can get quite noisy.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have 20 hens and 10 nests. Tthere are three favorites. I typically get 7 eggs in the #1 favorite nest, and 2 or 3 in the other two nests. Occasionally there will be an egg in one of the other nests or a random spot on the floor, but not often.