Nest box monitor - help

[Joyze172]

I have been finding a few eggs not in the nest boxes but in the yard or in homemade nests outside. So I started to think something is wrong.

I caught one of my hens being a nest box monitor and bully. Kicking them out of the nest boxes. She goes up into the coop almost hourly to check the boxes and runs anyone who is sitting out.

How do I get her to stop harassing the other layers?

 

[aart]

I'd lose the curtains...so birds in nest can see the bully coming.
How old are these birds?
How many birds and how many nests?
If they all just started laying, there could be some pecking order stuff going on.
If the 'nest monitor' doesn't knock that off, I'd crate her.

 

[Joyze172]

I'd lose the curtains...so birds in nest can see the bully coming.
How old are these birds?
How many birds and how many nests?
If they all just started laying, there could be some pecking order stuff going on.
If the 'nest monitor' doesn't knock that off, I'd crate her.

How old are these birds? The bully is almost 2 yrs and the one that is run out is 1 year old. I have 4 - 1 year olds who started laying 1 1/2 months ago.

How many birds? I have 8 hens and 1 rooster as of right now. (5 hens and the Roo live in the big coop you see in the video, 2 hens live in the small coop and 1 that was injured lives in a crate in the garage at night only) They all free range in a fenced in acre. Trying to get them integrated into the big coop now that the weather is better.

How many nests? There are 5 (4 heated (they prefer) and 1 not heated) in the coop, 1 in the greenhouse and 1 in a smaller coop in about an acre of land.

The "nest monitor" sleeps on a roost by herself while the rest sleep together on a different roost. She has always been kind of a loner.

*Should I crate her in the garage or in the coop? and for how long?

 

[aart]

Is the bully laying?
Bully is only running off one of the 1yo's or all of them?
1yo's started laying 6 weeks ago...bully started this 'monitoring' then?
Am guessing your 1 year olds are actually about 10 months old?

 

[Joyze172]

Is the bully laying?
Bully is only running off one of the 1yo's or all of them?
1yo's started laying 6 weeks ago...bully started this 'monitoring' then?
Am guessing your 1 year olds are actually about 10 months?

Is the bully laying? Pretty sure she is

Bully is only running off one of the 1yo's or all of them? Have a camera in the big coop. From the video she is running the younger ones out. However there is only 1 other hen her age and that hen lays before the sun comes up.

Am guessing your 1 year olds are actually about 10 months old? That sounds about right. The younger ones I was told were hatched in early May and June, I rounded up to a year.

1yo's started laying 6 weeks ago...bully started this 'monitoring' then? The younger ones started laying around Feb 11. Everything seemed fine until about a week or 2 ago. Thinking back I wonder if it started when they started to free range March 23 after we had 8 weeks of record snow fall.

Any thoughts? Does this normally happen with different aged hens?

 

[50-45-1]

If you put pair of pinless peepers on her it will put a halt her behavior.
She will be to busy figuing out how to manover around and get her mind off her teritorial staking out the nest box area.
They are inexpensive, easy to put on, do not harm the bird. They can eat, drink normally. My feather picking hen only had trouble getting up on he roosts at night, which i helped her with. A month later goggles came off and no more picking on the others. A humbling experiance.

 

[aart]

Any thoughts? Does this normally happen with different aged hens?

I was thinking some kind of pecking order thing as the younger ones started coming into lay....<shrugs> but who knows, chickens can be weird, and form neurotic and disruptive habits. Crating her away from the flock for a few days might break this habit....or the pinless peepers suggested above might be the way to go.

I had one hen that would tear up all the nests all day long, this started after she was separated with a few other birds in an adjacent pen for about a week...before that she was one of the most mellow layers. Ya just never know with live animals.

 

[Joyze172]

I was thinking some kind of pecking order thing as the younger ones started coming into lay....<shrugs> but who knows, chickens can be weird, and form neurotic and disruptive habits. Crating her away from the flock for a few days might break this habit....or the pinless peepers suggested above might be the way to go.

I had one hen that would tear up all the nests all day long, this started after she was separated with a few other birds in an adjacent pen for about a week...before that she was one of the most mellow layers. Ya just never know with live animals.

50-45-1 and aart,

Thank you for the great suggestions!

I might try the crate method this weekend. I am not the greatest at putting pinless peepers on.

Crazy chickens, just when I think I figured them out they give me a curve ball! But I love them!!!