nest box behaviour

[atbandb]

Hi.Some advice please. I have a hen that is very close with a cock. Some eggs have been laid from time to time from height and have broken. I have put a nest box up lined with shredded kitchen roll. I did this yesterday. They have pulled all the nesting material out of the box. I put it back in and they removed it again. The hen is in the box, head stuck out, cock bird kissing her from outside. All very unsavoury . Am I doing the right thing here. I am not looking at wanting babies but if it has to be then so be it. Thanks

[jellybean]

If you don't want babies I'd take the nest box down.

[atbandb]

Not especially helpful. If I remove the nest box then will she continue to lay eggs? I would like to avoid this as I recently had a hen with a prolapse due to laying lots of eggs over a period of time which did not deliver a good outcome. Any advice from others please

[Marianne Marlow]

Jellybean is right, if you have a nestbox then the hen will want to lay eggs.

Hezz has had a hen that kept laying eggs and she's managed to break that pattern. But once your hen starts laying it'll be harder to stop her.

[Hezz]

You need to be proactive to discourage her from laying, taking out the nest box is the first thing. The extreme will be having to separate the two, giving your hen a separate room even, stress her out slightly.

No late nights and lots of light, instead keep where they sleep dark and leave her covered for longer than normal in the morning, put her to bed earlier as well. No treats, put her only a maintenance diet only, no favourite toys and change her cage around regularly, different seed pots, run perches other ways, put food and water in different places. You need to make her stop thinking it is a season of plenty and therefore good breeding time, she has to start her own "survival mode" which is why she needs to be slightly stressed with what you do. Don't give her time to become comfortable within her cage, or cage placement whether it be in the same room or a totally different room on the house.

[atbandb]

Thanks Hezz. I have gone out and bought a cage and set it up in the house. She is now in it in spartan surroundings. In the bird room she was in the nest box which has one egg in it . I have put the box in her cage. Was I right to do that? Thanks.

[Hezz]

Is she sitting on the egg? No so much sitting as protecting, I suppose? If you’re going to keep the nest box with her, you’ll probably need to get some dummy eggs so that she doesn’t keep laying.

[cath]

Hello am new to breeding I have a
Female who layed two eggs last Friday she moves the eggs in the box now and then would anyone know why plz she has a male and they have bonded and mated alot and still are when she comes out of nesting box than you for any help

[Hezz]

A hen will normally roll, or turn, her eggs during the incubation period.

This is pertaining to chickens, but the same process applies to all eggs ...
www.pasreform.com/en/knowledge/10/the-biology-behind-egg-turning