PRW Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Hi I have a Pekin who will not lay if any other chicken is in the coop, even if there is an empty box to lay in. She stands in the doorway and just creates a racket non-stop. If I assume she wants an occupied nest box, and move the other chicken, it doesn't help. If I take the hens out of the coop, the Pekin leaves as well. The other hens return and then she returns to stand and continue her racket! She is fine if she goes to lay and no other hen is there. She will even lay in the run if there is another hen in the coop, and doesn't leave. All my other hens will even share nest boxes. Any ideas what I can do, as she has a quite irritating squawk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gelbel Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 My Madge was the same - until today. This morning it was the first time I found all three in the nest box at the same time (they looked so sweet). I just let her get on with it as she had trouble with softees when she first laid so I did not want to interfere and cause her any (possible) harm. I do think that the noise she made was more when I was about - asking me to turf one or both of the others out so she could have the nest to herself. She's quite a chatty thing at the best of times but ups the noise level when I am about. You might have to just put up with it until she gets the message - it's taken Madge 3 months (she's a bit thick, bless her ) and she's only just started laying practically every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRW Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 Thanks for responding Gelbel. Grace, the noisy one, is now over 2 years old, and has always been like this! She is the same whether I am around or not, and as she lays nearly every day, the noise she creates can be quite a disturbance to the neighbours. To be fair, they say they don't mind, but I do! I wish she would grow out of this habit, but maybe that's what it is, an habit! Earlier this year, I tried to break the habit by putting her in a box, as soon as she started the noise, and letting her calm down and lay in the box. As soon as we returned to normal, sadly she went back to her noisy habit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...