Julianna Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 For the first time in >10 years of henkeeping we have a problem with nest wars. We integrated 2 POLs about 2 months ago into our existing group of 3 hens successfully, but now the 4 who are laying seem to want to lay at the same time. The older Light Sussex are really bullying the new Burfords off the nest - lots of noise and pecking. We’ve provided an extra nest box with dummy eggs but to no avail. This bullying and aggression then continues when they pass each other free ranging. Any advice please? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 One nest box for four hens isn't really enough as here will frequently be two wanting to lay at the same time. But I think the real issue here is territorial, so they don't actually want to lay but consider that box theirs and for their use only. We have this problem as well, but despite three nest boxes for 3 hens, they all want the same one even though they are identical. Unfortunately, we haven't resolved the problem, simply resorting to closing the coop and throwing all but one out. This does result in eggs laid in the run. Two years they have being doing this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Oh, this is not sounding so good for when I want to put my 5 younger Pekins into one house with my other 2. They do spend all of their time in the run together but still sleep in separate houses. A couple of the younger ones have sneaked into the Cube to lay so not really sure how they have got away with it. I'm not really sure how to solve the problem @Julianna would it work if you put separate boxes in the nesting area ? I see you have a Cube in your signature, so I know it is not easy to separate the nest box. I hope they sort themselves out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajm200 Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 We had this with two of our bantams who were permanently broody all last summer. They took over the Eglu and the others took to laying eggs under a shrub. We invested in some second hand guinea pig shelters. The little boxes with a ramp. We have one in the outdoor area and two in the converted greenhouse. They ignored them for about a week. We closed off the Eglu to keep our persistent broodies out and the others started using the new shelters. A thick layer of nesting materials seems to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
